versagtevsversauteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,442
“versagte” frequency rank
#24,977
“versaute” frequency rank
59419
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature versagte versaute
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs versagt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs versaut

Where the eye mixes versagte and versaute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
versagte
8 ch
versaute

Visual trap between versagte and versaute

A purely visual mix-up. versagte ([fɛɐ̯ˈzaːktə]) and versaute ([fɛɐ̯ˈzaʊ̯tə]) 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 a single letter - g in “versagte” becomes u in “versaute”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

versagte is recorded at frequency rank #34,442, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈzaːktə]. versaute is at rank #24,977, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈzaʊ̯tə].

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 59419, this pair ranks #825,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of versagte vs versaute

Shared letters: aerstv. Private to "versagte": g. Private to "versaute": u.

"versagte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "versaute" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • versagteevrsagte · verasgte · verrsagte · versaget · versaggte · versagtte · versatge · versgate
  • versauteevrsaute · verasute · verrsaute · versatue · versauet · versautte · verssaute · versuate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "versagte" and "versaute" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈzaːktə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈzaʊ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "versagte" or "versaute" show up more?
"versaute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,977 in our German list, against #34,442 for "versagte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "versagte" and "versaute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "versagte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "versaute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #825,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "versagte" and "versaute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "versagte vs versäumte". 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 #825,204 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