verspäten

[fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩]

/[fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩]/ verb

The verdict

“verspäten” is uncommon German (frequency #77,494 among 4,163 “V” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,494
frequency rank, German
4,163
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - zu spät kommen, mit Verzögerung eintreffen

Corpus desk

Index DE-verspaten · verspäten · German

verspäten · rank #77,494 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #77,494
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,163
  • PHOTO-FINISH Versorgungsla…

Nearest frequency peer: Versorgungslage (-1 rank slots)

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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „verspäten“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „verspäten“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for verspäten
PropertyValue
Headwordverspäten
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩]
Letters9
Frequency rank#77,494
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „verspäten“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.verspätenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Versorgungslage“ (#77,493), „Versicherungswesen“ (#77,492), „verstellbar“ (#77,496). Unter 4,163 „V“-Lemmata liegt „verspäten“ bei #77,494. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

verspäten is uncommon German at frequency #77,494 among 4,163 “V” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "zu spät kommen, mit Verzögerung eintreffen".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for verspäten, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is verspäten, spelled V-E-R-S-P-Ä-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    zu spät kommen, mit Verzögerung eintreffen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how verspäten appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Leider war sehr viel Verkehr und wir haben uns etwas verspätet, hoffentlich ist das Essen noch nicht kalt.
  2. Hallo, ich verspäte mich um eine halbe Stunde, nicht böse sein, wir treffen uns am Parkplatz.

Antonyms

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 "verspäten"?
"verspäten" is spelled V-E-R-S-P-Ä-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩].
What does "verspäten" mean?
As a verb, "verspäten" means: zu spät kommen, mit Verzögerung eintreffen
How do you pronounce "verspäten"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "verspäten" is [fɛɐ̯ˈʃpɛːtn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "verspäten" come from?
"verspäten" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "verspäten", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list