Which to use
“wahr” is an adjective and “ward” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,376
- “wahr” frequency rank
- #8,808
- “ward” frequency rank
- 10184
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wahr | ward |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Wahrheit, Wirklichkeit, den Tatsachen entsprechend; wirklich geschehen, nicht ausgedacht oder erfunden | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv von werden |
Where the eye mixes wahr and ward
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wahr and ward follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wahr vs ward
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wahr is [vaːɐ̯] while ward is [vaʁt]. 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 (adjective vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wahr is recorded at frequency rank #1,376, classified as anadj, pronounced [vaːɐ̯]. ward is at rank #8,808, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [vaʁt].
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 10184, this pair ranks #1,976,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wahr vs ward
Shared letters: arw. Private to "wahr": h. Private to "ward": d.
"wahr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ward" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wahr" and "ward" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "wahr" or "ward"?
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 "wahr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ward" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,976,379 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wahr" and "ward" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ward vs Werds". 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 #1,976,379 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.