WortenvswürgenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,226
“Worten” frequency rank
#29,877
“würgen” frequency rank
32103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Worten würgen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Wort jemandem die Kehle zudrücken

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
Worten
6 ch
würgen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Worten is [ˈvɔʁtn̩] while würgen is [ˈvʏʁɡn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Worten is recorded at frequency rank #2,226, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔʁtn̩]. würgen is at rank #29,877, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvʏʁɡn̩].

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 32103, this pair ranks #1,714,641 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Worten vs würgen

Shared letters: enrw. Private to "Worten": ot. Private to "würgen": .

"Worten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "würgen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wortenowrten · woretn · worrten · wortenn · wortne · wortten · wotren · wroten

Frequency comparison

Worten#2,226
würgen#29,877

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Worten" and "würgen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Worten" is a noun and "würgen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Worten" or "würgen"?
"Worten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,226 in our German list, against #29,877 for "würgen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Worten vs würgen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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