VerursachervsverursachtenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#21,467
“Verursacher” frequency rank
#14,981
“verursachten” frequency rank
36448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes Verursacher and verursachten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. Verursacher runs 11 letters (CVCVCCVCCVC) against verursachten's 12 (CVCVCCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
Verursacher
12 ch
verursachten

Why the eye confuses Verursacher with verursachten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Verursacher is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxɐ] while verursachten is [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36448, 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]. verursachten is at rank #14,981, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈʔuːɐ̯ˌzaxtn̩].

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 36448, this pair ranks #1,615,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Verursacher vs verursachten

Shared letters: acehrsuv. Private to "Verursacher": -. Private to "verursachten": nt.

"Verursacher" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC  ·  "verursachten" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Verursacher ← evrursacher · verrursacher · verrusacher · verurascher · verurrsacher · verursaccher · verursacehr · verursacherr
  • verursachten ← evrursachten · verrursachten · verrusachten · veruraschten · verurrsachten · verursacchten · verursachetn · verursachhten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Verursacher" and "verursachten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Verursacher" is a noun and "verursachten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Verursacher" vs "verursachten" - which ranks higher?
"verursachten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,981 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 "verursachten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,615,373 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Verursacher" and "verursachten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verbrachten 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 #1,615,373 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