weckenvswertenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,424
“wecken” frequency rank
#4,846
“werten” frequency rank
12270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wecken werten
Definition jemanden aus dem Schlaf holen, wach machen den ideellen Wert einer Sache beurteilen

Where the eye mixes wecken and werten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wecken and werten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
wecken
6 ch
werten

Look-alike desk: wecken vs werten

A purely visual mix-up. wecken ([ˈvɛkn̩]) and werten ([ˈveːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 12270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wecken is recorded at frequency rank #7,424, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛkn̩]. werten is at rank #4,846, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tn̩].

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 12270, this pair ranks #1,965,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wecken vs werten

Shared letters: enw. Private to "wecken": ck. Private to "werten": rt.

"wecken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "werten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wecken ← ewcken · wceken · weccken · wecekn · weckenn · weckken · weckne · wekcen
  • werten ← ewrten · weretn · werrten · wertenn · wertne · wertten · wetren · wreten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wecken" for "werten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛkn̩] versus [ˈveːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wecken" vs "werten" - which ranks higher?
"werten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,846 in our German list, against #7,424 for "wecken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "wecken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "werten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wecken" and "werten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wecken vs Wickel". 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 #1,965,176 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