Which to use
“wide” is an adjective and “wird” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,128
- “wide” frequency rank
- #43
- “wird” frequency rank
- 20171
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wide | wird |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | von großer Ausdehnung | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werden |
Where the eye mixes wide and wird
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wide and wird
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wide is [waɪd] while wird is [vɪʁt]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wide is recorded at frequency rank #20,128, classified as anadj, pronounced [waɪd]. wird is at rank #43, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɪʁt].
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 20171, this pair ranks #1,900,506 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wide vs wird
Shared letters: diw. Private to "wide": e. Private to "wird": r.
"wide" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wird" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wide" and "wird" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "wide" or "wird"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wide" and "wird" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wide" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wird" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,900,506 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wide" and "wird" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wide vs wig". 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 #1,900,506 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.