wecktevswirkteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,194
“weckte” frequency rank
#4,240
“wirkte” frequency rank
28434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weckte wirkte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wecken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wirken

Where the eye mixes weckte and wirkte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
weckte
6 ch
wirkte

Look-alike desk: weckte vs wirkte

A purely visual mix-up. weckte ([ˈvɛktə]) and wirkte ([ˈvɪʁktə]) 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 28434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weckte is recorded at frequency rank #24,194, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛktə]. wirkte is at rank #4,240, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪʁktə].

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 28434, this pair ranks #1,784,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weckte vs wirkte

Shared letters: ektw. Private to "weckte": c. Private to "wirkte": ir.

"weckte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wirkte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weckteewckte · wcekte · wecckte · wecket · weckkte · wecktte · wectke · wekcte
  • wirkteiwrkte · wikrte · wirket · wirkkte · wirktte · wirrkte · wirtke · wrikte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weckte" and "wirkte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛktə] versus [ˈvɪʁktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "weckte" or "wirkte" show up more?
"wirkte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,240 in our German list, against #24,194 for "weckte". 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 "weckte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wirkte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,784,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weckte" and "wirkte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weckte vs welke". 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 #1,784,831 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