wettertvswitternWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,130
“wettert” frequency rank
#38,529
“wittern” frequency rank
85659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wettert wittern
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wettern etwas oder jemanden riechen

Where the eye mixes wettert and wittern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wettert and wittern follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
wettert
7 ch
wittern

Why the eye confuses wettert with wittern

A purely visual mix-up. wettert ([ˈvɛtɐt]) and wittern ([ˈvɪtɐn]) 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 85659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wettert is recorded at frequency rank #47,130, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛtɐt]. wittern is at rank #38,529, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪtɐn].

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 85659, this pair ranks #104,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wettert vs wittern

Shared letters: ertw. Private to "wettert": -. Private to "wittern": in.

"wettert" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "wittern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wettert ← ewttert · wetert · wetetrt · wetterrt · wettertt · wettetr · wettret · wtetert
  • wittern ← iwttern · witern · witetrn · wittenr · witternn · witterrn · wittren · wtitern

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wettert" and "wittern" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛtɐt] versus [ˈvɪtɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wettert" vs "wittern" - which ranks higher?
"wittern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,529 in our German list, against #47,130 for "wettert". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wettert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wittern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #104,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wettert" and "wittern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "werter vs wettert". 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 #104,968 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