verteilenvsverweisenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,573
“verteilen” frequency rank
#7,421
“verweisen” frequency rank
11994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verteilen verweisen
Definition mehreren Personen einen Teil von etwas geben auf etwas Anderes aufmerksam machen

Where the eye mixes verteilen and verweisen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verteilen and verweisen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
verteilen
9 ch
verweisen

Why the eye confuses verteilen with verweisen

A purely visual mix-up. verteilen ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən]) and verweisen ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verteilen is recorded at frequency rank #4,573, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən]. verweisen is at rank #7,421, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩].

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 11994, this pair ranks #1,966,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verteilen vs verweisen

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "verteilen": lt. Private to "verweisen": sw.

"verteilen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "verweisen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verteilen ← evrteilen · veretilen · verrteilen · verteieln · verteilenn · verteillen · verteilne · vertelien
  • verweisen ← evrweisen · verewisen · verrweisen · verweiesn · verweisenn · verweisne · verweissen · verwesien

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verteilen" and "verweisen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯lən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "verteilen" vs "verweisen" - which ranks higher?
"verteilen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,573 in our German list, against #7,421 for "verweisen". 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 "verteilen" and "verweisen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verteilen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verweisen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,780 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verteilen" and "verweisen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verteile vs verteilen". 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 #1,966,780 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