VenusvsVirusConfusable pair

Quick tell: Venus is a name, Virus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Venus” is a name and “Virus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,762
“Venus” frequency rank
#4,083
“Virus” frequency rank
14845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Venus Virus
Definition zweitinnerster Planet unseres Sonnensystems, hellstes Objekt am Nachthimmel nach dem Mond kleinster Krankheitserreger, der sich nur in Zellen vermehren kann

Where the eye mixes Venus and Virus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Venus
5 ch
Virus

Visual trap between Venus and Virus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Venus is [ˈveːnʊs] while Virus is [ˈviːʁʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Venus is recorded at frequency rank #10,762, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈveːnʊs]. Virus is at rank #4,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːʁʊs].

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 14845, this pair ranks #1,948,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Venus vs Virus

Shared letters: suv. Private to "Venus": en. Private to "Virus": ir.

"Venus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Virus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Venusevnus · vennus · vensu · venuss · veuns · vneus · vvenus
  • Virusivrus · virrus · virsu · viruss · viurs · vrius · vvirus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Venus" for "Virus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Venus" is a name and "Virus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Venus" or "Virus"?
"Virus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,083 in our German list, against #10,762 for "Venus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Venus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Virus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Venus" and "Virus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vene vs Venus". 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 #1,948,305 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