verwirrenvsverwirrteConfusable pair

Quick tell: verwirren is a verb, verwirrte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verwirren” is a verb and “verwirrte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,759
“verwirren” frequency rank
#30,368
“verwirrte” frequency rank
50127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verwirren verwirrte
Definition jemanden durcheinander bringen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verwirrt

Where the eye mixes verwirren and verwirrte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. verwirren (CVCCVCCVC) and verwirrte (CVCCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
verwirren
9 ch
verwirrte

Why the eye confuses verwirren with verwirrte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verwirren is [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁən] while verwirrte is [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verwirren is recorded at frequency rank #19,759, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁən]. verwirrte is at rank #30,368, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁtə].

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 50127, this pair ranks #1,185,646 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verwirren vs verwirrte

Shared letters: eirvw. Private to "verwirren": n. Private to "verwirrte": t.

"verwirren" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verwirrte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verwirrenevrwirren · veriwrren · verrwirren · verwiren · verwirern · verwirrenn · verwirrne · verwriren
  • verwirrteevrwirrte · veriwrrte · verrwirrte · verwirret · verwirrtte · verwirte · verwirtre · verwrirte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verwirren" for "verwirrte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verwirren" is a verb and "verwirrte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verwirren" vs "verwirrte" - which ranks higher?
"verwirren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,759 in our German list, against #30,368 for "verwirrte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verwirren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwirrte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,185,646 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verwirren" and "verwirrte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verirrte vs verwirrte". 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 #1,185,646 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