WirkungvsworkingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Wirkung is a noun, working is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wirkung” is a noun and “working” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,647
“Wirkung” frequency rank
#19,089
“working” frequency rank
20736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wirkung working
Definition Resultat einer Ursache Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs work

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Wirkung and working apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
Wirkung
7 ch
working

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Wirkung and working form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wirkung is recorded at frequency rank #1,647, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪʁkʊŋ]. working is at rank #19,089, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 20736, this pair ranks #1,894,327 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

Wirkung#1,647
working#19,089

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wirkung" and "working" be used interchangeably?
No, "Wirkung" and "working" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering Wirkung vs working

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Wirkung”; for a verb, it's “working”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Wirkung” 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