Which to use
“wo” is an adverb and “Wort” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #123
- “wo” frequency rank
- #527
- “Wort” frequency rank
- 650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wo | Wort |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | an welchem Ort, an welcher Stelle | kleinste, eine selbstständige Bedeutung tragende Einheit der Sprache, eine grammatische Einheit |
Where the eye mixes wo and Wort
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: wo vs Wort
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wo is [voː] while Wort is [vɔʁt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wo” sits inside “Wort”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wo is recorded at frequency rank #123, classified as anadv, pronounced [voː]. 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 650, this pair ranks #2,005,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wo vs Wort
Shared letters: ow. Private to "wo": -. Private to "Wort": rt.
"wo" · 2 letters · shape CV · "Wort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Wort ← owrt · worrt · wortt · wotr · wrot · wwort
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wo" and "Wort" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wo" or "Wort" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wo" and "Wort" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wo" 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 #2,005,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wo" 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 #2,005,559 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.