Which to use
“Wehr” is a noun and “wes” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,974
- “Wehr” frequency rank
- #22,214
- “wes” frequency rank
- 33188
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Wehr | wes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Anlage zur Stauung von Wasser, die quer durch ein fließendes Gewässer verläuft | wessen (Genitiv von wer und was) |
Where the eye mixes Wehr and wes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Wehr vs wes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wehr is [veːɐ̯] while wes is [vɛs]. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Wehr is recorded at frequency rank #10,974, classified as anoun, pronounced [veːɐ̯]. wes is at rank #22,214, tagged as apron, pronounced [vɛs].
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 33188, this pair ranks #1,691,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Wehr vs wes
Shared letters: ew. Private to "Wehr": hr. Private to "wes": s.
"Wehr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wes" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Wehr ← ewhr · wehhr · wehrr · werh · wher · wwehr
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Wehr" for "wes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Wehr" or "wes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Wehr" and "wes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Wehr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,691,389 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Wehr" and "wes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs wes". 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 #1,691,389 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.