verschwendenvsverschwindeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,820
“verschwenden” frequency rank
#35,521
“verschwinde” frequency rank
48341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verschwenden verschwinde
Definition unnötig viele Mittel, Ressourcen einsetzen; etwas erfolglos, sinnlos, planlos, unrationell aufwenden; vergeuden 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verschwinden

Where the eye mixes verschwenden and verschwinde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. verschwenden runs 12 letters (CVCCCCCVCCVC) against verschwinde's 11 (CVCCCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
verschwenden
11 ch
verschwinde

Visual trap between verschwenden and verschwinde

A purely visual mix-up. verschwenden ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɛndn̩]) and verschwinde ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɪndə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verschwenden is recorded at frequency rank #12,820, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɛndn̩]. verschwinde is at rank #35,521, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɪndə].

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 48341, this pair ranks #1,252,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verschwenden vs verschwinde

Shared letters: cdehnrsvw. Private to "verschwenden": -. Private to "verschwinde": i.

"verschwenden" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCCVCCVC  ·  "verschwinde" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verschwenden ← evrschwenden · vercshwenden · verrschwenden · verscchwenden · verschewnden · verschhwenden · verschwednen · verschwendden
  • verschwinde ← evrschwinde · vercshwinde · verrschwinde · verscchwinde · verschhwinde · verschiwnde · verschwidne · verschwindde

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verschwenden" and "verschwinde" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɛndn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈʃvɪndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verschwenden" vs "verschwinde" - which ranks higher?
"verschwenden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,820 in our German list, against #35,521 for "verschwinde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verschwenden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verschwinde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,252,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verschwenden" and "verschwinde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verschwende vs verschwinde". 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 #1,252,084 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