verschollenvsverschossenConfusable pair

Quick tell: verschollen is a adjective, verschossen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#21,466
“verschollen” frequency rank
#39,107
“verschossen” frequency rank
60573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschollen verschossen
Definition seit langer Zeit vermisst Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verschießen

Where the eye mixes verschollen and verschossen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

11 ch
verschollen
11 ch
verschossen

Visual trap between verschollen and verschossen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verschollen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɔlən] while verschossen is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɔsn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60573, 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]. verschossen is at rank #39,107, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃɔsn̩].

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 60573, this pair ranks #781,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verschollen vs verschossen

Shared letters: cehnorsv. Private to "verschollen": l. Private to "verschossen": -.

"verschollen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVC  ·  "verschossen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschollenevrschollen · vercshollen · verrschollen · verscchollen · verschhollen · verschlolen · verscholeln · verscholen
  • verschossenevrschossen · vercshossen · verrschossen · verscchossen · verschhossen · verschosen · verschosesn · verschossenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verschollen" for "verschossen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verschollen" is an adjective and "verschossen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verschollen" vs "verschossen" - which ranks higher?
"verschollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,466 in our German list, against #39,107 for "verschossen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verschollen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verschossen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #781,942 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschollen" and "verschossen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschonen vs verschossen". 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 #781,942 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