weirdvswurdTell them apart

Quick tell: weird is a adjective, wurd is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weird” is an adjective and “wurd” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,863
“weird” frequency rank
#25,845
“wurd” frequency rank
55708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weird wurd
Definition bizarr, drollig, eigenartig, grotesk, kurios, seltsam, sonderbar, verschroben kleinste selbstständige bedeutungstragende Einheit der Sprache; Wort

Where the eye mixes weird and wurd

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

5 ch
weird
4 ch
wurd

Look-alike desk: weird vs wurd

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weird is [wɪəd] while wurd is [vøt]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weird is recorded at frequency rank #29,863, classified as anadj, pronounced [wɪəd]. wurd is at rank #25,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vøt].

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 55708, this pair ranks #968,974 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of weird vs wurd

Shared letters: drw. Private to "weird": ei. Private to "wurd": u.

"weird" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "wurd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weirdewird · weidr · weirdd · weirrd · werid · wierd · wweird
  • wurduwrd · wrud · wudr · wurdd · wurrd · wwurd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weird" for "wurd" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weird" is an adjective and "wurd" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "weird" or "wurd" show up more?
"wurd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,845 in our German list, against #29,863 for "weird". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "weird" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wurd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #968,974 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weird" and "wurd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weins vs weird". 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 #968,974 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