verliervsverwiesTell them apart

Which to use

“verlier” and “verwies” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,490
“verlier” frequency rank
#15,251
“verwies” frequency rank
53741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verlier verwies
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verlieren 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs verweisen

Where the eye mixes verlier and verwies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. verlier and verwies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
verlier
7 ch
verwies

Visual trap between verlier and verwies

A purely visual mix-up. verlier ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːɐ̯]) and verwies ([fɛɐ̯ˈviːs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verlier is recorded at frequency rank #38,490, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈliːɐ̯]. verwies is at rank #15,251, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈviːs].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53741, this pair ranks #1,046,102 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verlier vs verwies

Shared letters: eirv. Private to "verlier": l. Private to "verwies": sw.

"verlier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "verwies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlierevrlier · velrier · veriler · verleir · verlierr · verlire · verllier · verrlier
  • verwiesevrwies · veriwes · verrwies · verwiess · verwise · verwwies · vewries · vrewies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verlier" for "verwies" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈliːɐ̯] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈviːs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verlier" or "verwies"?
"verwies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,251 in our German list, against #38,490 for "verlier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verlier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,046,102 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verlier" and "verwies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlier vs verzieh". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,046,102 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list