versevsVersenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,246
“verse” frequency rank
#29,399
“Versen” frequency rank
44645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verse Versen
Definition Poesie, Lyrik Dativ Plural des Substantivs Vers

Where the eye mixes verse and Versen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
verse
6 ch
Versen

Why the eye confuses verse with Versen

A purely visual mix-up. verse ([vɜːs]) and Versen ([ˈfɛʁzn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “verse” sits inside “Versen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verse is recorded at frequency rank #15,246, classified as anoun, pronounced [vɜːs]. Versen is at rank #29,399, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛʁzn̩].

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 44645, this pair ranks #1,379,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verse vs Versen

Shared letters: ersv. Private to "verse": -. Private to "Versen": n.

"verse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Versen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verseevrse · veres · verrse · versse · vesre · vrese · vverse
  • Versenevrsen · veresn · verrsen · versenn · versne · verssen · vesren · vresen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verse" and "Versen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([vɜːs] versus [ˈfɛʁzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verse" or "Versen"?
"verse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,246 in our German list, against #29,399 for "Versen". 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 "verse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Versen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,379,455 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verse" and "Versen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Velten vs Versen". 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 #1,379,455 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