vermischenvsvermisstenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vermischen is a verb, vermissten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vermischen” is a verb and “vermissten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,455
“vermischen” frequency rank
#17,449
“vermissten” frequency rank
37904
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vermischen vermissten
Definition etwas durcheinander bringen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs vermisst

Where the eye mixes vermischen and vermissten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
vermischen
10 ch
vermissten

Why the eye confuses vermischen with vermissten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vermischen is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪʃn̩] while vermissten is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vermischen is recorded at frequency rank #20,455, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪʃn̩]. vermissten is at rank #17,449, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪstn̩].

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 37904, this pair ranks #1,578,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vermischen vs vermissten

Shared letters: eimnrsv. Private to "vermischen": ch. Private to "vermissten": t.

"vermischen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC  ·  "vermissten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vermischenevrmischen · vemrischen · verimschen · vermicshen · vermiscchen · vermiscehn · vermischenn · vermischhen
  • vermisstenevrmissten · vemrissten · verimssten · vermissetn · vermisstenn · vermisstne · vermisstten · vermisten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vermischen" and "vermissten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vermischen" is a verb and "vermissten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "vermischen" or "vermissten" show up more?
"vermissten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,449 in our German list, against #20,455 for "vermischen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vermischen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vermissten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,578,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vermischen" and "vermissten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verhassten vs vermissten". 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 #1,578,031 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