WeltvsWortWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#207
“Welt” frequency rank
#527
“Wort” frequency rank
734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Welt Wort
Definition der Planet Erde kleinste, eine selbstständige Bedeutung tragende Einheit der Sprache, eine grammatische Einheit

Where the eye mixes Welt and Wort

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Welt
4 ch
Wort

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Welt ([vɛlt]) and Wort ([vɔʁt]) 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 734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Welt is recorded at frequency rank #207, classified as anoun, pronounced [vɛlt]. Wort is at rank #527, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɔʁt].

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 734, this pair ranks #2,005,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Welt vs Wort

Shared letters: tw. Private to "Welt": el. Private to "Wort": or.

"Welt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weltewlt · wellt · weltt · wetl · wlet · wwelt
  • Wortowrt · worrt · wortt · wotr · wrot · wwort

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Welt" and "Wort" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([vɛlt] versus [vɔʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Welt" or "Wort"?
"Welt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #207 in our German list, against #527 for "Wort". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Welt" and "Wort". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Welt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wort" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Welt" and "Wort" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs Wort". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list