verteidigevsverteidigenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,973
“verteidige” frequency rank
#3,625
“verteidigen” frequency rank
38598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verteidige verteidigen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verteidigen einen Angriff abwehren

Where the eye mixes verteidige and verteidigen

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

10 ch
verteidige
11 ch
verteidigen

Visual trap between verteidige and verteidigen

A purely visual mix-up. verteidige ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡə]) and verteidigen ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡn̩]) 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) - “verteidige” sits inside “verteidigen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verteidige is recorded at frequency rank #34,973, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡə]. verteidigen is at rank #3,625, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡn̩].

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 38598, this pair ranks #1,559,748 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verteidige vs verteidigen

Shared letters: degirtv. Private to "verteidige": -. Private to "verteidigen": n.

"verteidige" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV  ·  "verteidigen" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verteidige ← evrteidige · veretidige · verrteidige · vertediige · verteiddige · verteidgie · verteidieg · verteidigge
  • verteidigen ← evrteidigen · veretidigen · verrteidigen · vertediigen · verteiddigen · verteidgien · verteidiegn · verteidigenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verteidige" and "verteidigen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verteidige" vs "verteidigen" - which ranks higher?
"verteidigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,625 in our German list, against #34,973 for "verteidige". 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 "verteidige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verteidigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,559,748 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verteidige" and "verteidigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verteidige vs Verteidigers". 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 #1,559,748 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