verneinenvsverweilenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,843
“verneinen” frequency rank
#14,449
“verweilen” frequency rank
45292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verneinen verweilen
Definition eine Frage mit Nein beantworten an einem Ort bleiben

Where the eye mixes verneinen and verweilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verneinen and verweilen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verneinen
9 ch
verweilen

Why the eye confuses verneinen with verweilen

A purely visual mix-up. verneinen ([fɛɐ̯ˈnaɪ̯nən]) and verweilen ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən]) 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 45292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verneinen is recorded at frequency rank #30,843, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈnaɪ̯nən]. verweilen is at rank #14,449, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən].

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 45292, this pair ranks #1,358,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verneinen vs verweilen

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verneinen": -. Private to "verweilen": lw.

"verneinen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verweilen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verneinen ← evrneinen · venreinen · vereninen · verneienn · verneinenn · verneinne · verneinnen · vernenien
  • verweilen ← evrweilen · verewilen · verrweilen · verweieln · verweilenn · verweillen · verweilne · verwelien

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verneinen" for "verweilen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈnaɪ̯nən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verneinen" or "verweilen"?
"verweilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,449 in our German list, against #30,843 for "verneinen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verneinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verweilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,358,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verneinen" and "verweilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verfeinern vs verneinen". 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 #1,358,005 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