verwehrenvsverweisenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,351
“verwehren” frequency rank
#7,421
“verweisen” frequency rank
38772
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verwehren verweisen
Definition nicht erlauben, nicht gestatten, verbieten, versperren; jemandem etwas nicht gewähren auf etwas Anderes aufmerksam machen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set verwehren and verweisen apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
verwehren
9 ch
verweisen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. verwehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən]) 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 38772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verwehren is recorded at frequency rank #31,351, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən]. 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 38772, this pair ranks #1,555,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verwehren vs verweisen

Shared letters: enrvw. Private to "verwehren": h. Private to "verweisen": is.

"verwehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verweisen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verwehrenevrwehren · verewhren · verrwehren · verwehern · verwehhren · verwehrenn · verwehrne · verwehrren
  • verweisenevrweisen · verewisen · verrweisen · verweiesn · verweisenn · verweisne · verweissen · verwesien

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verwehren" and "verweisen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verwehren" or "verweisen"?
"verweisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,421 in our German list, against #31,351 for "verwehren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list