viervsviertTell them apart

Which to use

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

#328
“vier” frequency rank
#25,821
“viert” frequency rank
26149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vier viert
Definition die Kardinalzahl zwischen drei und fünf mit mit einer Gruppe aus vier Individuen etwas machen

Where the eye mixes vier and viert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vier
5 ch
viert

Why the eye confuses vier with viert

A purely visual mix-up. vier ([fiːɐ̯]) and viert ([fiːɐ̯t]) 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 extra letter(s) - “vier” sits inside “viert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vier is recorded at frequency rank #328, classified as anum, pronounced [fiːɐ̯]. viert is at rank #25,821, tagged as anum, pronounced [fiːɐ̯t].

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 26149, this pair ranks #1,822,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vier vs viert

Shared letters: eirv. Private to "vier": -. Private to "viert": t.

"vier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "viert" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vieriver · veir · vierr · vire · vvier
  • viertivert · veirt · vierrt · viertt · vietr · viret · vviert

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vier" for "viert" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fiːɐ̯] versus [fiːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vier" vs "viert" - which ranks higher?
"vier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #328 in our German list, against #25,821 for "viert". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "viert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,822,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vier" and "viert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "viert vs Viper". 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 #1,822,420 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