VerursachervsverursachteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Verursacher is a noun, verursachte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Verursacher” is a noun and “verursachte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,467
“Verursacher” frequency rank
#10,964
“verursachte” frequency rank
32431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Verursacher verursachte
Definition Person oder etwas, die/das den Ursprung für etwas bildet, für etwas verantwortlich ist Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs verursacht

Where the eye mixes Verursacher and verursachte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Verursacher (CVCVCCVCCVC) and verursachte (CVCVCCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

11 ch
Verursacher
11 ch
verursachte

Why the eye confuses Verursacher with verursachte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verursacher is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxɐ] while verursachte is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Verursacher is recorded at frequency rank #21,467, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxɐ]. verursachte is at rank #10,964, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtə].

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 32431, this pair ranks #1,707,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Verursacher vs verursachte

Shared letters: acehrsuv. Private to "Verursacher": -. Private to "verursachte": t.

"Verursacher" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "verursachte" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Verursacher ← evrursacher · verrursacher · verrusacher · verurascher · verurrsacher · verursaccher · verursacehr · verursacherr
  • verursachte ← evrursachte · verrursachte · verrusachte · veruraschte · verurrsachte · verursacchte · verursachet · verursachhte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Verursacher" and "verursachte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verursacher" is a noun and "verursachte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Verursacher" or "verursachte" show up more?
"verursachte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,964 in our German list, against #21,467 for "Verursacher". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Verursacher" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verursachte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,707,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verursacher" and "verursachte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Verursacher vs verursachten". 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 #1,707,700 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