verratevsvertraueWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,768
“verrate” frequency rank
#14,203
“vertraue” frequency rank
37971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verrate vertraue
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verraten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs vertrauen

Where the eye mixes verrate and vertraue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. verrate runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against vertraue's 8 (CVCCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
verrate
8 ch
vertraue

Why the eye confuses verrate with vertraue

A purely visual mix-up. verrate ([fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə]) and vertraue ([fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯ə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verrate is recorded at frequency rank #23,768, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə]. vertraue is at rank #14,203, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯ə].

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 37971, this pair ranks #1,576,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verrate vs vertraue

Shared letters: aertv. Private to "verrate": -. Private to "vertraue": u.

"verrate" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "vertraue" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verrate ← evrrate · verarte · verate · verraet · verratte · verrtae · vrerate · vverrate
  • vertraue ← evrtraue · verrtaue · verrtraue · vertarue · vertraeu · vertrraue · vertruae · verttraue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verrate" and "vertraue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʁaːtə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈtʁaʊ̯ə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verrate" or "vertraue" show up more?
"vertraue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,203 in our German list, against #23,768 for "verrate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verrate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vertraue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,576,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verrate" and "vertraue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verrate vs Verrats". 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 #1,576,262 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