verlorenvsverlosenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#739
“verloren” frequency rank
#30,842
“verlosen” frequency rank
31581
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verloren verlosen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verlieren einen Preis austeilen, den diejenige Person gewinnt, die das richtige/gewinnende Los gezogen/erworben hat

Where the eye mixes verloren and verlosen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
verloren
8 ch
verlosen

Why the eye confuses verloren with verlosen

A purely visual mix-up. verloren ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən]) and verlosen ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - r in “verloren” becomes s in “verlosen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verloren is recorded at frequency rank #739, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən]. verlosen is at rank #30,842, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩].

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 31581, this pair ranks #1,725,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verloren vs verlosen

Shared letters: elnorv. Private to "verloren": -. Private to "verlosen": s.

"verloren" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "verlosen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verlorenevrloren · velroren · verlloren · verloern · verlorenn · verlorne · verlorren · verlroen
  • verlosenevrlosen · velrosen · verllosen · verloesn · verlosenn · verlosne · verlossen · verlsoen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verloren" and "verlosen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈloːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈloːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verloren" vs "verlosen" - which ranks higher?
"verloren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #739 in our German list, against #30,842 for "verlosen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "verloren" and "verlosen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verloren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verlosen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,725,217 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verloren" and "verlosen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verlogene vs verlosen". 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 #1,725,217 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