WerdsvswordWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Werds” and “word” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,695
“Werds” frequency rank
#8,661
“word” frequency rank
54356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Werds word
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Werd kleinste selbstständige bedeutungstragende Einheit der Sprache

Where the eye mixes Werds and word

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

5 ch
Werds
4 ch
word

Why the eye confuses Werds with word

A purely visual mix-up. Werds ([vɛʁt͡s]) and word ([wɜːd]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Werds is recorded at frequency rank #45,695, classified as anoun, pronounced [vɛʁt͡s]. word is at rank #8,661, tagged as anoun, pronounced [wɜːd].

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 54356, this pair ranks #1,022,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Werds vs word

Shared letters: drw. Private to "Werds": es. Private to "word": o.

"Werds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "word" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Werdsewrds · wedrs · werdds · werdss · werrds · wersd · wreds · wwerds
  • wordowrd · wodr · wordd · worrd · wrod · wword

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Werds" for "word" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vɛʁt͡s] versus [wɜːd]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Werds" or "word"?
"word" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,661 in our German list, against #45,695 for "Werds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Werds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "word" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,022,157 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Werds" and "word" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weins vs Werds". 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 #1,022,157 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