Which to use
“verschreiben” and “vorschreiben” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,914
- “verschreiben” frequency rank
- #19,080
- “vorschreiben” frequency rank
- 47994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verschreiben | vorschreiben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | beim Schreiben (aus Versehen) einen Fehler machen | jemandem Vorschriften machen; jemandem sagen, was er tun soll |
Where the eye mixes verschreiben and vorschreiben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. verschreiben and vorschreiben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between verschreiben and vorschreiben
A purely visual mix-up. verschreiben ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]) and vorschreiben ([ˈfoːɐ̯ˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]) 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 - e in “verschreiben” becomes o in “vorschreiben”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verschreiben is recorded at frequency rank #28,914, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃʁaɪ̯bn̩]. vorschreiben is at rank #19,080, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌʃʁaɪ̯bn̩].
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 47994, this pair ranks #1,264,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verschreiben vs vorschreiben
Shared letters: bcehinrsv. Private to "verschreiben": -. Private to "vorschreiben": o.
"verschreiben" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCCVVCVC · "vorschreiben" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verschreiben ← evrschreiben · vercshreiben · verrschreiben · verscchreiben · verscheriben · verschhreiben · verschrebien · verschreibben
- vorschreiben ← ovrschreiben · vorcshreiben · vorrschreiben · vorscchreiben · vorscheriben · vorschhreiben · vorschrebien · vorschreibben
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "verschreiben" and "vorschreiben" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "verschreiben" or "vorschreiben" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "verschreiben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vorschreiben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,264,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verschreiben" and "vorschreiben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vorschreiben vs vorschreibt". 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 #1,264,616 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.