Hi @clumsybaby,
in our lesson yesterday I told you that „verschreiben“ ( etwas verschreiben) only means „prescribe“ ( to prescribe something ) and that it doesn’t work as in „hören“ ( hear ) and „verhören“ ( to mishear ).
Actually it does work „schreiben“ ( write ) and „verschreiben“ ( to make a slip of the pen ) are accurate German terms.
I found a site which talks about the prefix ver-
@Everymans.ai you might find this post interesting too, since you were searching for a pattern ( ein Muster, eine Regel ) to apply to this prefix 
Does anybody know more words or meaning of words with this prefix?
Last but not least I can come up with „Ich habe mich vertan“ ( I have made a mistake ) 
Sorry! ( Tut mir leid! )
Tschüssi 
from Berlin,
Melanie
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That’s a great explanation @Germanlady
Actually, the German prefix “ver-” has different meanings:
- to make an error (sich verschreiben, sich verlaufen, sich verirren)
- to change something (verzeihen, verschieben, verkaufen, vermieten, verbessern, verlängern, sich verlieben)
- to cause a damage (sich verletzen, jemanden verprügeln, jemanden verärgern)
- to add something, especially technically speaking (vergolden, verchromen)
- or it has no special meaning (Zeit verbringen, etwas vermeiden, sich verlieben)
Did you know that about half of German verbs with a prefix have the prefix “ver-”, which makes it the most common German prefix? 
Here you can find more information: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/ver_
And here is a list with many, many German verbs using the prefix “ver”:
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Thanks @SKrausser 
. Wow that’s a lot more information. I’ll pass that on to students who are interested in this and don’t visit the community forum.
Hope though that the multitude of information doesn’t lead to “Verwirrung” ( confusion ) 
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I don’t hope so 
Hier ist ein toller Stream über trennbare Verben:
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