Which to use
“verschollen” is an adjective and “verschonen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,466
- “verschollen” frequency rank
- #47,826
- “verschonen” frequency rank
- 69292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verschollen | verschonen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | seit langer Zeit vermisst | jemanden/etwas von dem ausnehmen, was (im gleichen Zeitraum und aus gleichem Grund) einem anderen/anderem Schaden zufügt |
Where the eye mixes verschollen and verschonen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: verschollen vs verschonen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschollen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɔlən] while verschonen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃoːnən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verschollen is recorded at frequency rank #21,466, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɔlən]. verschonen is at rank #47,826, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃoːnən].
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 69292, this pair ranks #481,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of verschollen vs verschonen
Shared letters: cehnorsv. Private to "verschollen": l. Private to "verschonen": -.
"verschollen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVC · "verschonen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verschollen ← evrschollen · vercshollen · verrschollen · verscchollen · verschhollen · verschlolen · verscholeln · verscholen
- verschonen ← evrschonen · vercshonen · verrschonen · verscchonen · verschhonen · verschnoen · verschoenn · verschonenn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verschollen" and "verschonen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "verschollen" or "verschonen"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verschollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verschonen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #481,071 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verschollen" and "verschonen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschonen vs verschönert". 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 #481,071 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.