GewährvsgewehrtWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Gewähr is a noun, gewehrt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gewähr” is a noun and “gewehrt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,627
“Gewähr” frequency rank
#20,604
“gewehrt” frequency rank
42231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gewähr gewehrt
Definition Sicherheit, Bürgschaft, Garantie Partizip Perfekt des Verbs wehren

Where the eye mixes Gewähr and gewehrt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Gewähr runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against gewehrt's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Gewähr
7 ch
gewehrt

Visual trap between Gewähr and gewehrt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gewähr is [ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯] while gewehrt is [ɡəˈveːɐ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42231, 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]. gewehrt is at rank #20,604, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈveːɐ̯t].

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 42231, this pair ranks #1,455,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gewähr vs gewehrt

Shared letters: eghrw. Private to "Gewähr": ä. Private to "gewehrt": t.

"Gewähr" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gewehrt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewehrt ← egwehrt · geewhrt · gewehhrt · gewehrrt · gewehrtt · gewehtr · gewerht · gewhert

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Gewähr" and "gewehrt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gewähr" is a noun and "gewehrt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gewähr" vs "gewehrt" - which ranks higher?
"gewehrt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,604 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewähr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewehrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,455,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gewähr" and "gewehrt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gedehnt vs gewehrt". 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 #1,455,697 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