wehenvsWeiheTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#13,067
“wehen” frequency rank
#20,789
“Weihe” frequency rank
33856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehen Weihe
Definition eine Luftströmung verursachen Heiligung, Aufwertung einer Person oder Sache durch eine rituelle Zeremonie

Where the eye mixes wehen and Weihe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wehen
5 ch
Weihe

Look-alike desk: wehen vs Weihe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wehen is [ˈveːən] while Weihe is [ˈvaɪ̯ə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wehen is recorded at frequency rank #13,067, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːən]. Weihe is at rank #20,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ə].

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 33856, this pair ranks #1,676,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wehen vs Weihe

Shared letters: ehw. Private to "wehen": n. Private to "Weihe": i.

"wehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Weihe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehenewhen · weehn · wehenn · wehhen · wehne · wheen · wwehen
  • Weiheewihe · wehie · weieh · weihhe · wiehe · wweihe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wehen" and "Weihe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wehen" is a verb and "Weihe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wehen" or "Weihe"?
"wehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,067 in our German list, against #20,789 for "Weihe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Weihe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,676,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wehen" and "Weihe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weihe vs Weins". 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 #1,676,528 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