Which to use
“währen” and “wehren” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,465
- “währen” frequency rank
- #5,444
- “wehren” frequency rank
- 39909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | währen | wehren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich über eine Zeitspanne erstrecken | sich etwas/jemandem entgegensetzen; gegen etwas Widerstand leisten |
Where the eye mixes währen and wehren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. währen and wehren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between währen and wehren
A purely visual mix-up. währen ([ˈvɛːʁən]) and wehren ([ˈveːʁən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - ä in “währen” becomes e in “wehren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
währen is recorded at frequency rank #34,465, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːʁən]. wehren is at rank #5,444, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːʁən].
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 39909, this pair ranks #1,523,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of währen vs wehren
Shared letters: ehnrw. Private to "währen": ä. Private to "wehren": -.
"währen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wehren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wehren ← ewhren · wehern · wehhren · wehrenn · wehrne · wehrren · werhen · wheren
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "währen" and "wehren" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "währen" vs "wehren" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "währen" and "wehren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "währen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wehren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,523,460 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "währen" and "wehren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "währen vs Warzen". 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 #1,523,460 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.