Which to use
“verweigern” and “verweisen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,293
- “verweigern” frequency rank
- #7,421
- “verweisen” frequency rank
- 16714
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verweigern | verweisen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas nicht zulassen; eine starrsinnige Haltung einnehmen | auf etwas Anderes aufmerksam machen |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set verweigern and verweisen apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. verweigern ([fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯ɡɐn]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verweigern is recorded at frequency rank #9,293, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvaɪ̯ɡɐn]. 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 16714, this pair ranks #1,933,579 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of verweigern vs verweisen
Shared letters: einrvw. Private to "verweigern": g. Private to "verweisen": s.
"verweigern" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCC · "verweisen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- verweigern ← evrweigern · verewigern · verrweigern · verwegiern · verweiegrn · verweigenr · verweigernn · verweigerrn
- verweisen ← evrweisen · verewisen · verrweisen · verweiesn · verweisenn · verweisne · verweissen · verwesien