WeckervsweiterConfusable pair

Quick tell: Wecker is a noun, weiter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wecker” is a noun and “weiter” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,359
“Wecker” frequency rank
#168
“weiter” frequency rank
11527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wecker weiter
Definition Uhr, die zu einer vorher eingestellten Zeit ein Signal gibt zum bereits Vorhandenen noch dazukommend, hinzugefügt

Where the eye mixes Wecker and weiter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Wecker (CVCCVC) and weiter (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Wecker
6 ch
weiter

Visual trap between Wecker and weiter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wecker is [ˈvɛkɐ] while weiter is [ˈvaɪ̯tɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wecker is recorded at frequency rank #11,359, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛkɐ]. weiter is at rank #168, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯tɐ].

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 11527, this pair ranks #1,969,423 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wecker vs weiter

Shared letters: erw. Private to "Wecker": ck. Private to "weiter": it.

"Wecker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "weiter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weckerewcker · wceker · weccker · wecekr · weckerr · weckker · weckre · wekcer
  • weiterewiter · weietr · weiterr · weitre · weitter · wetier · wieter · wweiter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wecker" for "weiter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wecker" is a noun and "weiter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Wecker" or "weiter" show up more?
"weiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #168 in our German list, against #11,359 for "Wecker". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Wecker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "weiter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,423 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wecker" and "weiter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wecker 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 #1,969,423 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