WurmvsWurstWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Wurm” and “Wurst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,791
“Wurm” frequency rank
#5,901
“Wurst” frequency rank
17692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wurm Wurst
Definition wirbelloses, bilateral-symmetrisches, langgestrecktes Tier längliches Fleischprodukt; meist eine Paste aus Tierfleisch in einen Tierdarm gepresst

Where the eye mixes Wurm and Wurst

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

4 ch
Wurm
5 ch
Wurst

Look-alike desk: Wurm vs Wurst

A purely visual mix-up. Wurm ([vʊʁm]) and Wurst ([vʊʁst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wurm is recorded at frequency rank #11,791, classified as anoun, pronounced [vʊʁm]. Wurst is at rank #5,901, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vʊʁst].

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 17692, this pair ranks #1,925,116 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wurm vs Wurst

Shared letters: ruw. Private to "Wurm": m. Private to "Wurst": st.

"Wurm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Wurst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wurmuwrm · wrum · wumr · wurmm · wurrm · wwurm
  • Wurstuwrst · wrust · wurrst · wursst · wurstt · wurts · wusrt · wwurst

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wurm" for "Wurst" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vʊʁm] versus [vʊʁst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Wurm" vs "Wurst" - which ranks higher?
"Wurst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,901 in our German list, against #11,791 for "Wurm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wurm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wurst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,925,116 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wurm" and "Wurst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wurm vs Würth". 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 #1,925,116 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