viertenvsVirenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vierten is a adjective, Viren is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vierten” is an adjective and “Viren” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,865
“vierten” frequency rank
#10,006
“Viren” frequency rank
12871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vierten Viren
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs vierte Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Virus

Where the eye mixes vierten and Viren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
vierten
5 ch
Viren

Why the eye confuses vierten with Viren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vierten is [ˈfiːɐ̯tn̩] while Viren is [ˈviːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vierten is recorded at frequency rank #2,865, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfiːɐ̯tn̩]. Viren is at rank #10,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːʁən].

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 12871, this pair ranks #1,961,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vierten vs Viren

Shared letters: einrv. Private to "vierten": t. Private to "Viren": -.

"vierten" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "Viren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vierteniverten · veirten · vieretn · vierrten · viertenn · viertne · viertten · vietren
  • Virenivren · viern · virenn · virne · virren · vrien · vviren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vierten" and "Viren" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vierten" is an adjective and "Viren" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vierten" or "Viren"?
"vierten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,865 in our German list, against #10,006 for "Viren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vierten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Viren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vierten" and "Viren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Viper vs Viren". 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 #1,961,516 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