Which to use
“Gewitter” is a noun and “gewittern” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,376
- “Gewitter” frequency rank
- #43,222
- “gewittern” frequency rank
- 52598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Gewitter | gewittern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wettererscheinung mit Blitz und Donner, die meist mit starkem Niederschlag einhergeht | blitzen und donnern, als Gewitter niedergehen |
Where the eye mixes Gewitter and gewittern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Gewitter with gewittern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gewitter is [ɡəˈvɪtɐ] while gewittern is [ɡəˈvɪtɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Gewitter” sits inside “gewittern”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Gewitter is recorded at frequency rank #9,376, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪtɐ]. gewittern is at rank #43,222, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪtɐn].
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 52598, this pair ranks #1,090,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Gewitter vs gewittern
Shared letters: egirtw. Private to "Gewitter": -. Private to "gewittern": n.
"Gewitter" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "gewittern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Gewitter" and "gewittern" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Gewitter" or "gewittern" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Gewitter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gewittern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,090,564 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Gewitter" and "gewittern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewittern vs gezittert". 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 #1,090,564 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.