verteidigtevsverteidigtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,822
“verteidigte” frequency rank
#39,111
“verteidigten” frequency rank
51933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verteidigte verteidigten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verteidigt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verteidigt

Where the eye mixes verteidigte and verteidigten

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

11 ch
verteidigte
12 ch
verteidigten

Why the eye confuses verteidigte with verteidigten

A purely visual mix-up. verteidigte ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtə]) and verteidigten ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtn̩]) 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) - “verteidigte” sits inside “verteidigten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verteidigte is recorded at frequency rank #12,822, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtə]. verteidigten is at rank #39,111, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtn̩].

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 51933, this pair ranks #1,116,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verteidigte vs verteidigten

Shared letters: degirtv. Private to "verteidigte": -. Private to "verteidigten": n.

"verteidigte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCCV  ·  "verteidigten" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verteidigte ← evrteidigte · veretidigte · verrteidigte · vertediigte · verteiddigte · verteidgite · verteidiget · verteidiggte
  • verteidigten ← evrteidigten · veretidigten · verrteidigten · vertediigten · verteiddigten · verteidgiten · verteidigetn · verteidiggten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verteidigte" for "verteidigten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪçtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verteidigte" or "verteidigten"?
"verteidigte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,822 in our German list, against #39,111 for "verteidigten". 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 "verteidigte" and "verteidigten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verteidigte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verteidigten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,116,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verteidigte" and "verteidigten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verteidige vs verteidigten". 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 #1,116,407 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