werbevsWerftWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: werbe is a verb, Werft is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“werbe” is a verb and “Werft” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,263
“werbe” frequency rank
#10,593
“Werft” frequency rank
25856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werbe Werft
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werben Industrieanlage zum Bauen und Reparieren von Schiffen oder Flugzeugen

Where the eye mixes werbe and Werft

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

5 ch
werbe
5 ch
Werft

Visual trap between werbe and Werft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: werbe is [ˈvɛʁbə] while Werft is [vɛʁft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

werbe is recorded at frequency rank #15,263, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛʁbə]. Werft is at rank #10,593, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɛʁft].

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 25856, this pair ranks #1,826,985 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of werbe vs Werft

Shared letters: erw. Private to "werbe": b. Private to "Werft": ft.

"werbe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Werft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werbeewrbe · werbbe · wereb · werrbe · wrebe · wwerbe
  • Werftewrft · wefrt · werfft · werftt · werrft · wertf · wreft · wwerft

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "werbe" for "Werft" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "werbe" is a verb and "Werft" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "werbe" vs "Werft" - which ranks higher?
"Werft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,593 in our German list, against #15,263 for "werbe". 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 "werbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Werft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,826,985 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "werbe" and "Werft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "welke vs werbe". 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 #1,826,985 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