werfenvswerterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: werfen is a verb, werter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“werfen” is a verb and “werter” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,095
“werfen” frequency rank
#39,725
“werter” frequency rank
41820
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werfen werter
Definition etwas in eine bestimmte Richtung schleudern Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs wert

Where the eye mixes werfen and werter

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

6 ch
werfen
6 ch
werter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: werfen is [ˈvɛʁfn̩] while werter is [ˈveːɐ̯tɐ]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

werfen is recorded at frequency rank #2,095, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛʁfn̩]. werter is at rank #39,725, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːɐ̯tɐ].

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 41820, this pair ranks #1,468,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of werfen vs werter

Shared letters: erw. Private to "werfen": fn. Private to "werter": t.

"werfen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "werter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werfenewrfen · wefren · werefn · werfenn · werffen · werfne · werrfen · wrefen
  • werterewrter · weretr · werrter · werterr · wertre · wertter · wetrer · wreter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "werfen" and "werter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "werfen" is a verb and "werter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "werfen" or "werter"?
"werfen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,095 in our German list, against #39,725 for "werter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list