wohlervswühlenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#25,844
“wohler” frequency rank
#30,397
“wühlen” frequency rank
56241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wohler wühlen
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wohl meist mit technischen Hilfsmitteln im Erdboden graben

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
wohler
6 ch
wühlen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wohler is [ˈvoːlɐ] while wühlen is [ˈvyːlən]. 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 56241, 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]. wühlen is at rank #30,397, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːlən].

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 56241, this pair ranks #947,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wohler vs wühlen

Shared letters: ehlw. Private to "wohler": or. Private to "wühlen": .

"wohler" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wohlerowhler · wholer · wohelr · wohhler · wohlerr · wohller · wohlre · wolher

Frequency comparison

wohler#25,844
wühlen#30,397

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wohler" and "wühlen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wohler" is an adjective and "wühlen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wohler" or "wühlen"?
"wohler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,844 in our German list, against #30,397 for "wühlen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wohler vs wühlen

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 “wühlen”.
  • 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