wehenvswehreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,067
“wehen” frequency rank
#35,548
“wehre” frequency rank
48615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehen wehre
Definition eine Luftströmung verursachen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wehren

Where the eye mixes wehen and wehre

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

5 ch
wehen
5 ch
wehre

Why the eye confuses wehen with wehre

A purely visual mix-up. wehen ([ˈveːən]) and wehre ([ˈveːʁə]) 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 48615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wehen is recorded at frequency rank #13,067, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːən]. 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 48615, this pair ranks #1,242,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wehen vs wehre

Shared letters: ehw. Private to "wehen": n. Private to "wehre": r.

"wehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "wehre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehen ← ewhen · weehn · wehenn · wehhen · wehne · wheen · wwehen
  • wehre ← ewhre · weher · wehhre · wehrre · werhe · wwehre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wehen" and "wehre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːən] versus [ˈveːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wehen" or "wehre" show up more?
"wehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,067 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.

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 "wehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wehre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,242,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehen" and "wehre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehre 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 #1,242,000 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