verfehlen
[fɛɐ̯ˈfeːlən]
The verdict
“verfehlen” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #26,213 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #26,213
- frequency rank, German
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - ein Ziel nicht treffen, nicht erreichen
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | verfehlen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [fɛɐ̯ˈfeːlən] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #26,213 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “verfehlen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for verfehlen is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [fɛɐ̯ˈfeːlən]. Corpus data places it at rank #26,213 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "ein Ziel nicht treffen, nicht erreichen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for verfehlen, with forms such as "evrfehlen", "vefrehlen", and "verefhlen". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "versehen", "vergehen", "verfehlt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, 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 verfehlen, spelled V-E-R-F-E-H-L-E-N.
Definition
- 1ein Ziel nicht treffen, nicht erreichen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: evrfehlen,vefrehlen,verefhlen,verfeheln,verfehhlen,verfehlenn,verfehllen,verfehlne,verfelhen,verffehlen,verfhelen,verrfehlen,vrefehlen,vverfehlen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of verfehlen - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "verfehlen"?
What does "verfehlen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "verfehlen"?
How do you pronounce "verfehlen"?
What language does "verfehlen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “verfehlen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is V-E-R-F-E-H-L-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [fɛɐ̯ˈfeːlən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “versehen” - see the side-by-side comparison. verfehlen vs versehen
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.