WegsvsWehrWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,904
“Wegs” frequency rank
#10,974
“Wehr” frequency rank
44878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wegs Wehr
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Weg Anlage zur Stauung von Wasser, die quer durch ein fließendes Gewässer verläuft

Where the eye mixes Wegs and Wehr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Wegs and Wehr follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Wegs
4 ch
Wehr

Why the eye confuses Wegs with Wehr

A purely visual mix-up. Wegs ([veːks]) and Wehr ([veːɐ̯]) 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 44878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wegs is recorded at frequency rank #33,904, classified as anoun, pronounced [veːks]. Wehr is at rank #10,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced [veːɐ̯].

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 44878, this pair ranks #1,371,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Wegs vs Wehr

Shared letters: ew. Private to "Wegs": gs. Private to "Wehr": hr.

"Wegs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Wehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wegs ← ewgs · weggs · wegss · wesg · wges · wwegs
  • Wehr ← ewhr · wehhr · wehrr · werh · wher · wwehr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wegs" and "Wehr" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([veːks] versus [veːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Wegs" or "Wehr"?
"Wehr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,974 in our German list, against #33,904 for "Wegs". 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 "Wegs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wehr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,371,726 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wegs" and "Wehr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wegs 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 #1,371,726 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