wehenvswehrtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,067
“wehen” frequency rank
#10,777
“wehrt” frequency rank
23844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehen wehrt
Definition eine Luftströmung verursachen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wehren

Where the eye mixes wehen and wehrt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wehen
5 ch
wehrt

Why the eye confuses wehen with wehrt

A purely visual mix-up. wehen ([ˈveːən]) and wehrt ([veːɐ̯t]) 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 23844, 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]. wehrt is at rank #10,777, tagged as averb, pronounced [veːɐ̯t].

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 23844, this pair ranks #1,855,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wehen vs wehrt

Shared letters: ehw. Private to "wehen": n. Private to "wehrt": rt.

"wehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "wehrt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehenewhen · weehn · wehenn · wehhen · wehne · wheen · wwehen
  • wehrtewhrt · wehhrt · wehrrt · wehrtt · wehtr · werht · whert · wwehrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wehen" and "wehrt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːən] versus [veːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wehen" vs "wehrt" - which ranks higher?
"wehrt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,777 in our German list, against #13,067 for "wehen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "wehen" and "wehrt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wehrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,882 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehen" and "wehrt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehen vs weilen". 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 #1,855,882 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