WarnungvsWirkungWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,551
“Warnung” frequency rank
#1,647
“Wirkung” frequency rank
7198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Warnung Wirkung
Definition Hinweis auf eine Gefahr Resultat einer Ursache

Where the eye mixes Warnung and Wirkung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Warnung and Wirkung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Warnung
7 ch
Wirkung

Visual trap between Warnung and Wirkung

A purely visual mix-up. Warnung ([ˈvaʁnʊŋ]) and Wirkung ([ˈvɪʁkʊŋ]) 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 7198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Warnung is recorded at frequency rank #5,551, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaʁnʊŋ]. Wirkung is at rank #1,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkʊŋ].

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 7198, this pair ranks #1,989,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Warnung vs Wirkung

Shared letters: gnruw. Private to "Warnung": a. Private to "Wirkung": ik.

"Warnung" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "Wirkung" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Warnung ← awrnung · wanrung · warnnug · warnnung · warnugn · warnungg · warnunng · warrnung
  • Wirkung ← iwrkung · wikrung · wirkkung · wirknug · wirkugn · wirkungg · wirkunng · wirrkung

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Warnung" and "Wirkung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaʁnʊŋ] versus [ˈvɪʁkʊŋ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Warnung" or "Wirkung" show up more?
"Wirkung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,647 in our German list, against #5,551 for "Warnung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Warnung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wirkung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,989,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Warnung" and "Wirkung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Warburg vs Warnung". 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 #1,989,050 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