verteilevsverweilenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,337
“verteile” frequency rank
#14,449
“verweilen” frequency rank
58786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verteile verweilen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs verteilen an einem Ort bleiben

Where the eye mixes verteile and verweilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verteile runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against verweilen's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
verteile
9 ch
verweilen

Why the eye confuses verteile with verweilen

A purely visual mix-up. verteile ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lə]) and verweilen ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən]) 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 58786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verteile is recorded at frequency rank #44,337, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lə]. verweilen is at rank #14,449, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən].

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 58786, this pair ranks #849,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verteile vs verweilen

Shared letters: eilrv. Private to "verteile": t. Private to "verweilen": nw.

"verteile" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "verweilen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verteile ← evrteile · veretile · verrteile · verteiel · verteille · vertelie · vertiele · vertteile
  • verweilen ← evrweilen · verewilen · verrweilen · verweieln · verweilenn · verweillen · verweilne · verwelien

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "verteile" and "verweilen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lə] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯lən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "verteile" or "verweilen" show up more?
"verweilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,449 in our German list, against #44,337 for "verteile". 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 "verteile" and "verweilen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verteile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verweilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #849,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verteile" and "verweilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verheilt vs verteile". 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 #849,364 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