vorderevsvorherWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: vordere is a adjective, vorher is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vordere” is an adjective and “vorher” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,732
“vordere” frequency rank
#804
“vorher” frequency rank
14536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vordere vorher
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs vorder vor diesem Zeitpunkt oder Vorgang

Where the eye mixes vordere and vorher

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. vordere runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against vorher's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
vordere
6 ch
vorher

Look-alike desk: vordere vs vorher

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vordere is [ˈfɔʁdəʁə] while vorher is [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vordere is recorded at frequency rank #13,732, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɔʁdəʁə]. vorher is at rank #804, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯heːɐ̯].

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 14536, this pair ranks #1,950,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vordere vs vorher

Shared letters: eorv. Private to "vordere": d. Private to "vorher": h.

"vordere" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "vorher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vordere ← ovrdere · vodrere · vorddere · vordeer · vorderre · vordree · voredre · vorrdere
  • vorher ← ovrher · vohrer · vorehr · vorherr · vorhher · vorhre · vorrher · vroher

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vordere" and "vorher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vordere" is an adjective and "vorher" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vordere" or "vorher"?
"vorher" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #804 in our German list, against #13,732 for "vordere". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vordere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,950,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vordere" and "vorher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vorher vs Vorhof". 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 #1,950,518 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