verzögertvsverzögerteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,150
“verzögert” frequency rank
#29,406
“verzögerte” frequency rank
40556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verzögert verzögerte
Definition später geschehen, als erwartet oder vorgesehen; unplanmäßig spät Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verzögert

Where the eye mixes verzögert and verzögerte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verzögert runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against verzögerte's 10 (CVCCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
verzögert
10 ch
verzögerte

Visual trap between verzögert and verzögerte

A purely visual mix-up. verzögert ([fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐt]) and verzögerte ([fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐtə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “verzögert” sits inside “verzögerte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verzögert is recorded at frequency rank #11,150, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐt]. verzögerte is at rank #29,406, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐtə].

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 40556, this pair ranks #1,505,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of verzögert vs verzögerte

Shared letters: egrtvzö. Private to "verzögert": -. Private to "verzögerte": -.

"verzögert" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "verzögerte" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "verzögert" and "verzögerte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐt] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈt͡søːɡɐtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "verzögert" or "verzögerte"?
"verzögert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,150 in our German list, against #29,406 for "verzögerte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "verzögert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verzögerte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,505,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verzögert" and "verzögerte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verzierte vs verzögerte". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,505,023 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