wehrtevsWertesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#22,211
“wehrte” frequency rank
#23,374
“Wertes” frequency rank
45585
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehrte Wertes
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wehren Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Wert

Where the eye mixes wehrte and Wertes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wehrte (CVCCCV) and Wertes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
wehrte
6 ch
Wertes

Visual trap between wehrte and Wertes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wehrte is [ˈveːɐ̯tə] while Wertes is [ˈveːɐ̯təs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wehrte is recorded at frequency rank #22,211, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tə]. Wertes is at rank #23,374, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯təs].

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 45585, this pair ranks #1,348,044 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wehrte vs Wertes

Shared letters: ertw. Private to "wehrte": h. Private to "Wertes": s.

"wehrte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Wertes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehrte ← ewhrte · wehhrte · wehret · wehrrte · wehrtte · wehtre · werhte · wherte
  • Wertes ← ewrtes · werets · werrtes · wertess · wertse · werttes · wetres · wretes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wehrte" for "Wertes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wehrte" is a verb and "Wertes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wehrte" or "Wertes"?
"wehrte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,211 in our German list, against #23,374 for "Wertes". 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 "wehrte" and "Wertes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wehrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wertes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,348,044 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehrte" and "Wertes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wertes vs wirres". 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 #1,348,044 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