werdevswordenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: werde is a verb, worden is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“werde” is a verb and “worden” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#232
“werde” frequency rank
#285
“worden” frequency rank
517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werde worden
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs werden Partizip Perfekt von werden als Hilfsverb. In diesem Fall steckt die Hauptaussage in dem Verb, das mit Hilfe von worden ins Perfekt gesetzt wurde, - anders als bei dem zweiten Partizip Perfekt zu werden: geworden.

Where the eye mixes werde and worden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
werde
6 ch
worden

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: werde is [ˈveːɐ̯də] while worden is [ˈvɔʁdən]. 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 unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

werde is recorded at frequency rank #232, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯də]. worden is at rank #285, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈvɔʁdən].

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 517, this pair ranks #2,005,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of werde vs worden

Shared letters: derw. Private to "werde": -. Private to "worden": no.

"werde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "worden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werdeewrde · wedre · werdde · wered · werrde · wrede · wwerde
  • wordenowrden · wodren · wordden · wordenn · wordne · woredn · worrden · wroden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "werde" and "worden" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "werde" is a verb and "worden" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "werde" or "worden"?
"werde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #232 in our German list, against #285 for "worden". 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 "werde" and "worden". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "werde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "worden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,744 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "werde" and "worden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "welke vs werde". 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