verschenkenvsversehenenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#11,149
“verschenken” frequency rank
#31,345
“versehenen” frequency rank
42494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschenken versehenen
Definition jemandem etwas zum Geschenk machen, jemandem etwas als Geschenk geben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs versehen

Where the eye mixes verschenken and versehenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verschenken runs 11 letters (CVCCCCVCCVC) against versehenen's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
verschenken
10 ch
versehenen

Look-alike desk: verschenken vs versehenen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschenken is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛŋkn̩] while versehenen is [fɛɐ̯ˈzeːənən]. 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 42494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verschenken is recorded at frequency rank #11,149, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɛŋkn̩]. versehenen is at rank #31,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈzeːənən].

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 42494, this pair ranks #1,447,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verschenken vs versehenen

Shared letters: ehnrsv. Private to "verschenken": ck. Private to "versehenen": -.

"verschenken" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVC  ·  "versehenen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschenken ← evrschenken · vercshenken · verrschenken · verscchenken · verscehnken · verscheknen · verschenekn · verschenkenn
  • versehenen ← evrsehenen · vereshenen · verrsehenen · verseehnen · verseheenn · versehenenn · versehennen · versehhenen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verschenken" and "versehenen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verschenken" is a verb and "versehenen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "verschenken" or "versehenen"?
"verschenken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,149 in our German list, against #31,345 for "versehenen". 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 "verschenken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "versehenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,447,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschenken" and "versehenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschonen vs versehenen". 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 #1,447,573 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