WegvsWegsConfusable pair

Which to use

“Weg” and “Wegs” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#201
“Weg” frequency rank
#33,904
“Wegs” frequency rank
34105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Weg Wegs
Definition einfache, oft geringer befestigte, aber auch unbefestigte, als allgemeiner Weg nicht klassifizierte Verkehrslinie zum Begehen oder Befahren Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Weg

Where the eye mixes Weg and Wegs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Weg
4 ch
Wegs

Why the eye confuses Weg with Wegs

A purely visual mix-up. Weg ([veːk]) and Wegs ([veːks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Weg” sits inside “Wegs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Weg is recorded at frequency rank #201, classified as anoun, pronounced [veːk]. Wegs is at rank #33,904, tagged as anoun, pronounced [veːks].

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 34105, this pair ranks #1,670,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Weg vs Wegs

Shared letters: egw. Private to "Weg": -. Private to "Wegs": s.

"Weg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Wegs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wegsewgs · weggs · wegss · wesg · wges · wwegs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Weg" for "Wegs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([veːk] versus [veːks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Weg" vs "Wegs" - which ranks higher?
"Weg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #201 in our German list, against #33,904 for "Wegs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Weg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wegs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,670,883 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Weg" and "Wegs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wegs vs went". 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 #1,670,883 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