Virus

[ˈviːʁʊs]

/[ˈviːʁʊs]/ noun

The verdict

“Virus” has 7 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #4,083. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,083
frequency rank, German
4,163
“V” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kleinster Krankheitserreger, der sich nur in Zellen vermehren kann

Corpus desk

Index DE-virus · Virus · German

Virus · rank #4,083 · 7 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,083
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,163
  • PHOTO-FINISH Vielfalt

Nearest frequency peer: Vielfalt (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „Virus“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „Virus“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Virus vs vis
40% similar
Virus vs vors
40% similar
Virus vs vous
40% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Virus
PropertyValue
HeadwordVirus
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈviːʁʊs]
Letters5
Frequency rank#4,083
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „Virus“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).Virusliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Vielfalt“ (#4,082), „Voraussetzung“ (#4,084), „versetzt“ (#4,081). Unter 4,163 „V“-Lemmata liegt „Virus“ bei #4,083. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around Virus (IPA [ˈviːʁʊs]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,083 among 4,163 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for Virus, with forms such as "ivrus", "virrus", and "virsu". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "vis", "vors", "vous", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Virus, spelled V-I-R-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    kleinster Krankheitserreger, der sich nur in Zellen vermehren kann
  2. 2
    schädlicher, sich selbst durch Hilfe von Programmen verbreitender, selbst nicht lauffähiger (ausführbarer) Kode

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Virus appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Er hat sich ein(en) Virus eingefangen.
  2. „Nur besonders aufdringliche Zeitgenossen zeigen, wie furchtlos sie selbst Bazillen und Viren gegenüberstehen und schütteln trotzdem – oder erst recht.“

Synonyms

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ivrus
  • virrus
  • virsu
  • viruss
  • viurs
  • vrius
  • vvirus

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Virus - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ivrus2virrus1virsu2viruss1viurs2vrius2vvirus1
Edit distance from "Virus"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Virus"?
"Virus" is spelled V-I-R-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈviːʁʊs].
What does "Virus" mean?
As a noun, "Virus" means: kleinster Krankheitserreger, der sich nur in Zellen vermehren kann
What words are commonly confused with "Virus"?
"Virus" is commonly confused with "vis", "vors", "vous". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Virus"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Virus" is [ˈviːʁʊs]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Virus" come from?
"Virus" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Virus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list