wehtevswerdeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,686
“wehte” frequency rank
#232
“werde” frequency rank
45918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehte werde
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wehen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs werden

Where the eye mixes wehte and werde

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

5 ch
wehte
5 ch
werde

Look-alike desk: wehte vs werde

A purely visual mix-up. wehte ([ˈveːtə]) and werde ([ˈveːɐ̯də]) 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 45918, 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]. werde is at rank #232, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯də].

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 45918, this pair ranks #1,336,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wehte vs werde

Shared letters: ew. Private to "wehte": ht. Private to "werde": dr.

"wehte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "werde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehteewhte · wehet · wehhte · wehtte · wethe · whete · wwehte
  • werdeewrde · wedre · werdde · wered · werrde · wrede · wwerde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wehte" and "werde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːtə] versus [ˈveːɐ̯də]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wehte" vs "werde" - which ranks higher?
"werde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #232 in our German list, against #45,686 for "wehte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wehte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "werde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,336,733 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehte" and "werde" 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 #1,336,733 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