Which to use
“wait” is a verb and “weight” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,121
- “wait” frequency rank
- #41,574
- “weight” frequency rank
- 61695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wait | weight |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | warten, abwarten | (Körper-)Gewicht |
Same sound, different letters: wait vs weight
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - wait / weight
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: wait and weight carry the same recorded pronunciation, [weɪt]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wait is recorded at frequency rank #20,121, classified as averb, pronounced [weɪt]. weight is at rank #41,574, tagged as anoun, pronounced [weɪt].
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 61695, this pair ranks #740,090 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wait vs weight
Shared letters: itw. Private to "wait": a. Private to "weight": egh.
"wait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "weight" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wait" for "weight" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wait" or "weight"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "wait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weight" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #740,090 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wait" and "weight" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weight vs Wicht". 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 #740,090 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.