prevent

[prɪˈvent]

/[prɪˈvent]/ verb

The verdict

“prevent” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - vorbeugen, verhindern

Corpus desk

Index DE-prevent · prevent · German

prevent · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "P" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for prevent
PropertyValue
Headwordprevent
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[prɪˈvent]
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „prevent“ im Deutschen

preventschafft es nicht in die Top 100.000 des Deutschen: Zone für Fach-, Alt- oder Seltenwortschatz.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

prevent is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [prɪˈvent]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "vorbeugen, verhindern".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for prevent, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is prevent, spelled P-R-E-V-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    vorbeugen, verhindern

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prevent"?
"prevent" is spelled P-R-E-V-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is [prɪˈvent].
What does "prevent" mean?
As a verb, "prevent" means: vorbeugen, verhindern
How do you pronounce "prevent"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prevent" is [prɪˈvent]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prevent" come from?
"prevent" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list