wirstvsWortWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#983
“wirst” frequency rank
#527
“Wort” frequency rank
1510
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wirst Wort
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs werden kleinste, eine selbstständige Bedeutung tragende Einheit der Sprache, eine grammatische Einheit

Where the eye mixes wirst and Wort

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wirst
4 ch
Wort

Visual trap between wirst and Wort

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wirst is [vɪʁst] while Wort is [vɔʁt]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wirst is recorded at frequency rank #983, classified as averb, pronounced [vɪʁst]. Wort is at rank #527, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɔʁt].

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 1510, this pair ranks #2,004,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wirst vs Wort

Shared letters: rtw. Private to "wirst": is. Private to "Wort": o.

"wirst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wirstiwrst · wirrst · wirsst · wirstt · wirts · wisrt · wrist · wwirst
  • Wortowrt · worrt · wortt · wotr · wrot · wwort

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wirst" for "Wort" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wirst" is a verb and "Wort" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "wirst" vs "Wort" - which ranks higher?
"Wort" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #527 in our German list, against #983 for "wirst". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "wirst" and "Wort" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wirst" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wort" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,204 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wirst" and "Wort" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs Wort". 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 #2,004,204 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