Which to use
“wehrt” is a verb and “what” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,777
- “wehrt” frequency rank
- #4,752
- “what” frequency rank
- 15529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wehrt | what |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wehren | was? |
Where the eye mixes wehrt and what
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses wehrt with what
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wehrt is [veːɐ̯t] while what is [wɒt]. 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 (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wehrt is recorded at frequency rank #10,777, classified as averb, pronounced [veːɐ̯t]. what is at rank #4,752, tagged as apron, pronounced [wɒt].
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 15529, this pair ranks #1,943,143 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wehrt vs what
Shared letters: htw. Private to "wehrt": er. Private to "what": a.
"wehrt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wehrt" and "what" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wehrt" or "what" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wehrt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "what" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,943,143 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wehrt" and "what" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehrt 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 #1,943,143 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.