WehevswehreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Wehe is a noun, wehre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wehe” is a noun and “wehre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,122
“Wehe” frequency rank
#35,548
“wehre” frequency rank
44670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wehe wehre
Definition seelischer Schmerz 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wehren

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Wehe and wehre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
Wehe
5 ch
wehre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wehe is [ˈveːə] while wehre is [ˈveːʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wehe is recorded at frequency rank #9,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈveːə]. wehre is at rank #35,548, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːʁə].

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 44670, this pair ranks #1,378,630 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Wehe vs wehre

Shared letters: ehw. Private to "Wehe": -. Private to "wehre": r.

"Wehe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "wehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weheewhe · weeh · wehhe · whee · wwehe
  • wehreewhre · weher · wehhre · wehrre · werhe · wwehre

Frequency comparison

Wehe#9,122
wehre#35,548

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wehe" and "wehre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wehe" is a noun and "wehre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Wehe" or "wehre"?
"Wehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,122 in our German list, against #35,548 for "wehre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Wehe vs wehre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Wehe”; for a verb, it's “wehre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Wehe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list