wohlervswohnenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wohler is a adjective, wohnen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#25,844
“wohler” frequency rank
#1,619
“wohnen” frequency rank
27463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wohler wohnen
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wohl wesentliche Zeit seines Lebens an einem bestimmten, geschützten Ort verbringen

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
wohler
6 ch
wohnen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wohler is [ˈvoːlɐ] while wohnen is [ˈvoːnən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wohler is recorded at frequency rank #25,844, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvoːlɐ]. wohnen is at rank #1,619, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvoːnən].

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 27463, this pair ranks #1,801,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wohler vs wohnen

Shared letters: ehow. Private to "wohler": lr. Private to "wohnen": n.

"wohler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wohnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wohlerowhler · wholer · wohelr · wohhler · wohlerr · wohller · wohlre · wolher
  • wohnenowhnen · whonen · wohenn · wohhnen · wohnenn · wohnne · wohnnen · wonhen

Frequency comparison

wohler#25,844
wohnen#1,619

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wohler" and "wohnen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wohler" is an adjective and "wohnen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wohler" or "wohnen"?
"wohnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,619 in our German list, against #25,844 for "wohler". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wohler vs wohnen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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