werbenvsWortenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#6,610
“werben” frequency rank
#2,226
“Worten” frequency rank
8836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werben Worten
Definition bekanntmachen, zum Kauf auffordern Dativ Plural des Substantivs Wort

Where the eye mixes werben and Worten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. werben and Worten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
werben
6 ch
Worten

Visual trap between werben and Worten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: werben is [ˈvɛʁbn̩] while Worten is [ˈvɔʁtn̩]. 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 8836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

werben is recorded at frequency rank #6,610, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛʁbn̩]. Worten is at rank #2,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔʁtn̩].

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 8836, this pair ranks #1,982,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of werben vs Worten

Shared letters: enrw. Private to "werben": b. Private to "Worten": ot.

"werben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Worten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werbenewrben · webren · werbben · werbenn · werbne · werebn · werrben · wreben
  • Wortenowrten · woretn · worrten · wortenn · wortne · wortten · wotren · wroten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "werben" and "Worten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "werben" is a verb and "Worten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "werben" or "Worten" show up more?
"Worten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,226 in our German list, against #6,610 for "werben". 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 "werben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Worten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,982,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "werben" and "Worten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs werben". 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 #1,982,612 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