UfervsUhrWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,660
“Ufer” frequency rank
#200
“Uhr” frequency rank
4860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ufer Uhr
Definition Randbereich zwischen Gewässer und Land Instrument zur Messung der Zeit, Chronometer

Where the eye mixes Ufer and Uhr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ufer
3 ch
Uhr

Why the eye confuses Ufer with Uhr

A purely visual mix-up. Ufer ([ˈuːfɐ]) and Uhr ([uːɐ̯]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ufer is recorded at frequency rank #4,660, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈuːfɐ]. Uhr is at rank #200, tagged as anoun, pronounced [uːɐ̯].

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 4860, this pair ranks #1,996,458 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ufer vs Uhr

Shared letters: ru. Private to "Ufer": ef. Private to "Uhr": h.

"Ufer" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Uhr" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Uferfuer · uefr · uferr · uffer · ufre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ufer" for "Uhr" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈuːfɐ] versus [uːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Ufer" vs "Uhr" - which ranks higher?
"Uhr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #200 in our German list, against #4,660 for "Ufer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Ufer" and "Uhr" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ufer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Uhr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,458 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ufer" and "Uhr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ufer vs Uke". 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 #1,996,458 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