wahrevswehreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wahre is a adjective, wehre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wahre and wehre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wahre
5 ch
wehre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • wahreawhre · waher · wahhre · wahrre · warhe · whare · wwahre
  • wehreewhre · weher · wehhre · wehrre · werhe · wwehre

Frequency comparison

wahre#2,274
wehre#35,548

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wahre" and "wehre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wahre" is an adjective and "wehre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wahre" or "wehre"?
"wahre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,274 in our German list, against #35,548 for "wehre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wahre vs wehre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “wahre”; for a verb, it's “wehre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wahre” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list