wirktevswitteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,240
“wirkte” frequency rank
#26,252
“witte” frequency rank
30492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirkte witte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wirken Kenntnis haben, sich über etwas Wahres sicher sein; wissen

Where the eye mixes wirkte and witte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wirkte
5 ch
witte

Look-alike desk: wirkte vs witte

A purely visual mix-up. wirkte ([ˈvɪʁktə]) and witte ([ˈvɪtə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30492, 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]. witte is at rank #26,252, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪtə].

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 30492, this pair ranks #1,746,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wirkte vs witte

Shared letters: eitw. Private to "wirkte": kr. Private to "witte": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirkteiwrkte · wikrte · wirket · wirkkte · wirktte · wirrkte · wirtke · wrikte
  • witteiwtte · wite · witet · wtite · wwitte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wirkte" for "witte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪʁktə] versus [ˈvɪtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wirkte" or "witte"?
"wirkte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,240 in our German list, against #26,252 for "witte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wirkte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "witte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,746,778 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wirkte" and "witte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waste vs witte". 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 #1,746,778 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