werfenvswürzenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,095
“werfen” frequency rank
#29,878
“würzen” frequency rank
31973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature werfen würzen
Definition etwas in eine bestimmte Richtung schleudern den Geschmack von Speisen mit Hilfe verschiedenster Zutaten, zum Beispiel Kräutern, Salz, Pfeffer und Ähnlichem beeinflussen

Where the eye mixes werfen and würzen

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

6 ch
werfen
6 ch
würzen

Look-alike desk: werfen vs würzen

A purely visual mix-up. werfen ([ˈvɛʁfn̩]) and würzen ([ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31973, 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]. würzen is at rank #29,878, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩].

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 31973, this pair ranks #1,717,363 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of werfen vs würzen

Shared letters: enrw. Private to "werfen": f. Private to "würzen": zü.

"werfen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "würzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • werfen ← ewrfen · wefren · werefn · werfenn · werffen · werfne · werrfen · wrefen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "werfen" and "würzen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛʁfn̩] versus [ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "werfen" or "würzen"?
"werfen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,095 in our German list, against #29,878 for "würzen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "werfen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "würzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,717,363 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "werfen" and "würzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "würzen vs würzig". 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 #1,717,363 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