verwahrenvsverwöhnenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#47,094
“verwahren” frequency rank
#15,253
“verwöhnen” frequency rank
62347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verwahren verwöhnen
Definition (etwas für jemanden) vorübergehend in den eigenen sicheren Besitz übernehmen (nicht als Eigentum) jemandem Gutes tun, indem man ihm besondere Vorteile zukommen lässt und vor Unbehagen schützt, und dies, ohne eine besondere Gegenleistung zu erwarten/erhalten

Where the eye mixes verwahren and verwöhnen

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

9 ch
verwahren
9 ch
verwöhnen

Look-alike desk: verwahren vs verwöhnen

A purely visual mix-up. verwahren ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən]) and verwöhnen ([fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnən]) 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 62347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verwahren is recorded at frequency rank #47,094, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən]. verwöhnen is at rank #15,253, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnən].

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 62347, this pair ranks #716,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verwahren vs verwöhnen

Shared letters: ehnrvw. Private to "verwahren": a. Private to "verwöhnen": ö.

"verwahren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verwöhnen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verwahren ← evrwahren · verawhren · verrwahren · verwahern · verwahhren · verwahrenn · verwahrne · verwahrren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verwahren" for "verwöhnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verwahren" or "verwöhnen"?
"verwöhnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,253 in our German list, against #47,094 for "verwahren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "verwahren" and "verwöhnen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verwahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwöhnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #716,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verwahren" and "verwöhnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwahren vs Vorwahlen". 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 #716,240 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