Which to use
“wahre” is an adjective and “wehre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,274
- “wahre” frequency rank
- #35,548
- “wehre” frequency rank
- 37822
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wahre | wehre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wahr | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wehren |
Where the eye mixes wahre and wehre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wahre and wehre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wahre vs wehre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wahre is [ˈvaːʁə] while wehre is [ˈveːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “wahre” becomes e in “wehre”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wahre is recorded at frequency rank #2,274, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaːʁə]. wehre is at rank #35,548, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːʁə].
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 37822, this pair ranks #1,580,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wahre vs wehre
Shared letters: ehrw. Private to "wahre": a. Private to "wehre": -.
"wahre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "wehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wahre" for "wehre" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "wahre" or "wehre" show up more?
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 "wahre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wehre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,580,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wahre" and "wehre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehre vs welke". 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 #1,580,181 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.