WaisenvsweilenConfusable pair

Quick tell: Waisen is a noun, weilen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Waisen” is a noun and “weilen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,233
“Waisen” frequency rank
#47,125
“weilen” frequency rank
73358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Waisen weilen
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Waise sich an einem Ort aufhalten, an einem Ort bleiben

Where the eye mixes Waisen and weilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Waisen and weilen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Waisen
6 ch
weilen

Visual trap between Waisen and weilen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Waisen is [ˈvaɪ̯zn̩] while weilen is [ˈvaɪ̯lən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Waisen is recorded at frequency rank #26,233, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯zn̩]. weilen is at rank #47,125, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯lən].

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 73358, this pair ranks #362,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Waisen vs weilen

Shared letters: einw. Private to "Waisen": as. Private to "weilen": l.

"Waisen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "weilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Waisen ← awisen · waiesn · waisenn · waisne · waissen · wasien · wiasen · wwaisen
  • weilen ← ewilen · weieln · weilenn · weillen · weilne · welien · wielen · wweilen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Waisen" and "weilen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Waisen" is a noun and "weilen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Waisen" or "weilen"?
"Waisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,233 in our German list, against #47,125 for "weilen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Waisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "weilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,541 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Waisen" and "weilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs Weines". 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 #362,541 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