GewährvsGewehrTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,627
“Gewähr” frequency rank
#11,443
“Gewehr” frequency rank
33070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gewähr Gewehr
Definition Sicherheit, Bürgschaft, Garantie Schusswaffe ab 30 cm Gesamtlänge

Where the eye mixes Gewähr and Gewehr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Gewähr and Gewehr follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Gewähr
6 ch
Gewehr

Look-alike desk: Gewähr vs Gewehr

A purely visual mix-up. Gewähr ([ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯]) and Gewehr ([ɡəˈveːɐ̯]) 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 a single letter - ä in “Gewähr” becomes e in “Gewehr”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gewähr is recorded at frequency rank #21,627, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯]. Gewehr is at rank #11,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈveːɐ̯].

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 33070, this pair ranks #1,693,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gewähr vs Gewehr

Shared letters: eghrw. Private to "Gewähr": ä. Private to "Gewehr": -.

"Gewähr" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Gewehr" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gewehr ← egwehr · geewhr · gewehhr · gewehrr · gewerh · gewher · gewwehr · ggewehr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gewähr" and "Gewehr" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯] versus [ɡəˈveːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Gewähr" or "Gewehr"?
"Gewehr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,443 in our German list, against #21,627 for "Gewähr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewähr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewehr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,693,928 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gewähr" and "Gewehr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemäht vs Gewähr". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,693,928 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