verwöhnenvsverwöhntWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,253
“verwöhnen” frequency rank
#14,707
“verwöhnt” frequency rank
29960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verwöhnen verwöhnt
Definition jemandem Gutes tun, indem man ihm besondere Vorteile zukommen lässt und vor Unbehagen schützt, und dies, ohne eine besondere Gegenleistung zu erwarten/erhalten in einem Zustand befindlich, in dem man durch vorangegangenen Überfluss bestimmte Dinge nicht mehr zu schätzen weiß

Where the eye mixes verwöhnen and verwöhnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. verwöhnen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against verwöhnt's 8 (CVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verwöhnen
8 ch
verwöhnt

Look-alike desk: verwöhnen vs verwöhnt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verwöhnen is [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnən] while verwöhnt is [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verwöhnen is recorded at frequency rank #15,253, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnən]. verwöhnt is at rank #14,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvøːnt].

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 29960, this pair ranks #1,756,978 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verwöhnen vs verwöhnt

Shared letters: ehnrvwö. Private to "verwöhnen": -. Private to "verwöhnt": t.

"verwöhnen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "verwöhnt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verwöhnen" for "verwöhnt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verwöhnen" is a verb and "verwöhnt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verwöhnen" vs "verwöhnt" - which ranks higher?
"verwöhnt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,707 in our German list, against #15,253 for "verwöhnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "verwöhnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwöhnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,756,978 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verwöhnen" and "verwöhnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwöhnen vs verworren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,756,978 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