vermissenvsvermisstenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#5,781
“vermissen” frequency rank
#17,449
“vermissten” frequency rank
23230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vermissen vermissten
Definition feststellen, wahrnehmen, dass jemand oder etwas fehlt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs vermisst

Where the eye mixes vermissen and vermissten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. vermissen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against vermissten's 10 (CVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
vermissen
10 ch
vermissten

Visual trap between vermissen and vermissten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vermissen is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪsn̩] while vermissten is [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪstn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vermissen is recorded at frequency rank #5,781, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈmɪsn̩]. 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 23230, this pair ranks #1,864,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vermissen vs vermissten

Shared letters: eimnrsv. Private to "vermissen": -. Private to "vermissten": t.

"vermissen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "vermissten" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vermissen ← evrmissen · vemrissen · verimssen · vermisen · vermisesn · vermissenn · vermissne · vermißen
  • vermissten ← evrmissten · vemrissten · verimssten · vermissetn · vermisstenn · vermisstne · vermisstten · vermisten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vermissen" and "vermissten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vermissen" is a verb and "vermissten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "vermissen" or "vermissten" show up more?
"vermissen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,781 in our German list, against #17,449 for "vermissten". 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 "vermissen" 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 #1,864,021 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vermissen" 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 #1,864,021 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