warnevswerbeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“warne” and “werbe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,389
“warne” frequency rank
#15,263
“werbe” frequency rank
48652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature warne werbe
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warnen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werben

Where the eye mixes warne and werbe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
warne
5 ch
werbe

Visual trap between warne and werbe

A purely visual mix-up. warne ([ˈvaʁnə]) and werbe ([ˈvɛʁbə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

warne is recorded at frequency rank #33,389, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁnə]. werbe is at rank #15,263, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛʁbə].

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 48652, this pair ranks #1,240,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of warne vs werbe

Shared letters: erw. Private to "warne": an. Private to "werbe": b.

"warne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "werbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • warneawrne · wanre · wrane · wwarne
  • werbeewrbe · werbbe · wereb · werrbe · wrebe · wwerbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "warne" for "werbe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaʁnə] versus [ˈvɛʁbə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "warne" or "werbe"?
"werbe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,263 in our German list, against #33,389 for "warne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "warne" and "werbe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "warne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "werbe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,240,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "warne" and "werbe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "warne vs waste". 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 #1,240,632 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