How and why do we create new words? Is this influenced by individual speaker groups and intentions? To answer these questions, neologisms from eight varieties of German, such as advertising, newspaper, and technical languages, are analyzed in terms of word formation techniques and usage functions. The different language varieties clearly differ in their choice of preferred word formation options. Although compounds are multifunctional and therefore widely represented, individual preferences and variety-specific characteristics emerge. Each variety must meet different task constellations. The data document a wide range of conventional, less conventional, and unconventional formations. Contaminations and neologisms complement the usual German word formation types where it comes to lexicon.