wirktevswirreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,240
“wirkte” frequency rank
#45,704
“wirre” frequency rank
49944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirkte wirre
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wirken Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wirr

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wirkte and wirre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
wirkte
5 ch
wirre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wirkte is [ˈvɪʁktə] while wirre is [ˈvɪʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wirkte is recorded at frequency rank #4,240, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪʁktə]. wirre is at rank #45,704, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪʁə].

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 49944, this pair ranks #1,192,505 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wirkte vs wirre

Shared letters: eirw. Private to "wirkte": kt. Private to "wirre": -.

"wirkte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wirre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirkteiwrkte · wikrte · wirket · wirkkte · wirktte · wirrkte · wirtke · wrikte
  • wirreiwrre · wirer · wrire · wwirre

Frequency comparison

wirkte#4,240
wirre#45,704

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wirkte" and "wirre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wirkte" is a verb and "wirre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wirkte" or "wirre"?
"wirkte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,240 in our German list, against #45,704 for "wirre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wirkte vs wirre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wirkte”; for an adjective, it's “wirre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wirkte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list