wehtevswehtunTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,686
“wehte” frequency rank
#28,018
“wehtun” frequency rank
73704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehte wehtun
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wehen Schmerzen zufügen

Where the eye mixes wehte and wehtun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wehte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against wehtun's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
wehte
6 ch
wehtun

Look-alike desk: wehte vs wehtun

A purely visual mix-up. wehte ([ˈveːtə]) and wehtun ([ˈveːˌtuːn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wehte is recorded at frequency rank #45,686, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːtə]. wehtun is at rank #28,018, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːˌtuːn].

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 73704, this pair ranks #353,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wehte vs wehtun

Shared letters: ehtw. Private to "wehte": -. Private to "wehtun": nu.

"wehte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wehtun" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehte ← ewhte · wehet · wehhte · wehtte · wethe · whete · wwehte
  • wehtun ← ewhtun · wehhtun · wehtnu · wehttun · wehtunn · wehutn · wethun · whetun

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wehte" for "wehtun" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːtə] versus [ˈveːˌtuːn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wehte" vs "wehtun" - which ranks higher?
"wehtun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,018 in our German list, against #45,686 for "wehte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "wehte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wehtun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #353,077 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehte" and "wehtun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waste vs wehte". 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 #353,077 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