wer

[veːɐ̯]

/[veːɐ̯]/ pron

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“wer” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #133) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#133
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen

Corpus desk

Index DE-wer · wer · German

wer · rank #133 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #133
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH Leben

Nearest frequency peer: Leben (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “wer”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “wer” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

wer vs wo
33% similar
wer vs WM
0% similar
wer vs wi
33% similar

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

Key facts for wer
PropertyValue
Headwordwer
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[veːɐ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#133
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “wer” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.werliegt hier:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Leben“ (#132), „Macht“ (#134), „anderen“ (#135). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for wer is neighbouring look-alikes ("wo", "WM", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced [veːɐ̯]. Frequency #133 among 2,930 “W” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No generated misspelling entries exist for wer in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wo", "WM", "wi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is wer, spelled W-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen
  2. 2
    fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen
  3. 3
    fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen, ohne eine Antwort zu erwarten

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Wer hat an der Uhr gedreht?
  2. Wessen Uhr ist das?

This word in other languages

who(English)quién(Español)qui(Français)quem(Português)

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 "wer"?
"wer" is spelled W-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [veːɐ̯].
What does "wer" mean?
As a pronoun, "wer" means: fragt nach einer Person oder mehreren Personen
What words are commonly confused with "wer"?
"wer" is commonly confused with "wo", "WM", "wi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wer" is [veːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wer" come from?
"wer" 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 "wer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

nun#130ihm#137hab#126ihn#140

What to do next

You've looked up "wer". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list