Which to use
“wer” is a pronoun and “woher” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #133
- “wer” frequency rank
- #1,951
- “woher” frequency rank
- 2084
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wer | woher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen | leitet eine Frage nach der Herkunft ein |
Where the eye mixes wer and woher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wer and woher
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wer is [veːɐ̯] while woher is [voˈheːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wer is recorded at frequency rank #133, classified as apron, pronounced [veːɐ̯]. woher is at rank #1,951, tagged as anadv, pronounced [voˈheːɐ̯].
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 2084, this pair ranks #2,003,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wer vs woher
Shared letters: erw. Private to "wer": -. Private to "woher": ho.
"wer" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "woher" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- woher ← owher · whoer · woehr · woherr · wohher · wohre · wwoher
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wer" and "woher" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "wer" vs "woher" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "woher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,003,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wer" and "woher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs wer". 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 #2,003,144 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.