weedvsWerkTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,017
“weed” frequency rank
#1,123
“Werk” frequency rank
29140
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weed Werk
Definition Gras, Unkraut die Tätigkeit des Arbeitens an einer (umfangreichen) Sache

Where the eye mixes weed and Werk

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
weed
4 ch
Werk

Look-alike desk: weed vs Werk

A purely visual mix-up. weed ([wiːd]) and Werk ([vɛʁk]) 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 29140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weed is recorded at frequency rank #28,017, classified as anoun, pronounced [wiːd]. Werk is at rank #1,123, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɛʁk].

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 29140, this pair ranks #1,772,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weed vs Werk

Shared letters: ew. Private to "weed": d. Private to "Werk": kr.

"weed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Werk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weedewed · wed · wede · weedd · wweed
  • Werkewrk · wekr · werkk · werrk · wrek · wwerk

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weed" for "Werk" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([wiːd] versus [vɛʁk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "weed" or "Werk"?
"Werk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,123 in our German list, against #28,017 for "weed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Werk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,772,268 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weed" and "Werk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weed vs went". 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 #1,772,268 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