Which to use
“wir” is a pronoun and “wirft” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37
- “wir” frequency rank
- #2,869
- “wirft” frequency rank
- 2906
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wir | wirft |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural; mehrere Personen, die sprechende eingeschlossen | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs werfen |
Where the eye mixes wir and wirft
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wir vs wirft
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wir is [viːɐ̯] while wirft is [vɪʁft]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wir” sits inside “wirft”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wir is recorded at frequency rank #37, classified as apron, pronounced [viːɐ̯]. wirft is at rank #2,869, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɪʁft].
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 2906, this pair ranks #2,001,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wir vs wirft
Shared letters: irw. Private to "wir": -. Private to "wirft": ft.
"wir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wirft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wirft ← iwrft · wifrt · wirfft · wirftt · wirrft · wirtf · wrift · wwirft
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wir" and "wirft" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "wir" or "wirft" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wir" and "wirft" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wirft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,001,343 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wir" and "wirft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wirft vs wit". 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 #2,001,343 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.