verordnenvsverordneteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#38,493
“verordnen” frequency rank
#34,440
“verordnete” frequency rank
72933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verordnen verordnete
Definition ein Medikament oder eine Behandlung verschreiben Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verordnet

Where the eye mixes verordnen and verordnete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verordnen runs 9 letters (CVCVCCCVC) against verordnete's 10 (CVCVCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verordnen
10 ch
verordnete

Look-alike desk: verordnen vs verordnete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verordnen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɔʁdnən] while verordnete is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɔʁdnətə]. 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 72933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verordnen is recorded at frequency rank #38,493, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɔʁdnən]. verordnete is at rank #34,440, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔɔʁdnətə].

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 72933, this pair ranks #374,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of verordnen vs verordnete

Shared letters: denorv. Private to "verordnen": -. Private to "verordnete": t.

"verordnen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "verordnete" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verordnenevrordnen · veorrdnen · verodrnen · verorddnen · verordenn · verordnenn · verordnne · verordnnen
  • verordneteevrordnete · veorrdnete · verodrnete · verorddnete · verordente · verordneet · verordnette · verordnnete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verordnen" for "verordnete" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verordnen" is a verb and "verordnete" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verordnen" vs "verordnete" - which ranks higher?
"verordnete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,440 in our German list, against #38,493 for "verordnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verordnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verordnete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,386 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verordnen" and "verordnete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verordnen vs verorten". 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 #374,386 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