Which to use
“verwehren” and “verzehren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,351
- “verwehren” frequency rank
- #28,919
- “verzehren” frequency rank
- 60270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verwehren | verzehren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht erlauben, nicht gestatten, verbieten, versperren; jemandem etwas nicht gewähren | als Nahrung zu sich nehmen |
Where the eye mixes verwehren and verzehren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verwehren and verzehren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses verwehren with verzehren
A purely visual mix-up. verwehren ([fɛɐ̯ˈveːʁən]) and verzehren ([ˌfɛɐ̯ˈt͡seːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - w in “verwehren” becomes z in “verzehren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60270, 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]. verzehren is at rank #28,919, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˌfɛɐ̯ˈt͡seːʁən].
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 60270, this pair ranks #793,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of verwehren vs verzehren
Shared letters: ehnrv. Private to "verwehren": w. Private to "verzehren": z.
"verwehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "verzehren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verwehren" for "verzehren" ever safe?
Frequency check: "verwehren" vs "verzehren" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verwehren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verzehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #793,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verwehren" and "verzehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwehren vs verworren". 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 #793,244 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.