werdvsWerftWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,525
“werd” frequency rank
#10,593
“Werft” frequency rank
13118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werd Werft
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werden Industrieanlage zum Bauen und Reparieren von Schiffen oder Flugzeugen

Where the eye mixes werd and Werft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. werd runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Werft's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
werd
5 ch
Werft

Visual trap between werd and Werft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: werd is [veːɐ̯t] while Werft is [vɛʁft]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

werd is recorded at frequency rank #2,525, classified as averb, pronounced [veːɐ̯t]. 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 13118, this pair ranks #1,960,001 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of werd vs Werft

Shared letters: erw. Private to "werd": d. Private to "Werft": ft.

"werd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Werft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werd ← ewrd · wedr · werdd · werrd · wred · wwerd
  • Werft ← ewrft · wefrt · werfft · werftt · werrft · wertf · wreft · wwerft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "werd" and "Werft" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "werd" is a verb and "Werft" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "werd" or "Werft" show up more?
"werd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,525 in our German list, against #10,593 for "Werft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "werd" and "Werft" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "werd" 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 #1,960,001 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "werd" and "Werft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs Werft". 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 #1,960,001 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