It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-east of Wesel, and 20 km north of Duisburg.

1(3) of the Main Charter of the town, the municipal area is divided into the 11 quarters of Götterswickerhamm, Löhnen, Mehrum, Möllen, Voerde, Stockum, Holthausen, Friedrichsfeld, Emmelsum, Spellen and Ork.

These quarters are, however, not localities in the sense of article 39 of the North Rhine-Westphalian Municipal Code (GO NW).

Voerde owes its name to a ford crossing of a branch of the River Rhine, which existed there during Roman and Frankish times (the old spelling for Furt was Fuerdt).

During World War II, the 9th US-Army crossed the Rhine in the night of 23 to 24 March 1945 in the area of Voerde and reached the right Rhine-bank for the first time (Operation Plunder).