wehtevsweitesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wehte is a verb, weites is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wehte” is a verb and “weites” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,686
“wehte” frequency rank
#28,019
“weites” frequency rank
73705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wehte weites
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wehen Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs weit

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wehte and weites apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wehte
6 ch
weites

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wehte is [ˈveːtə] while weites is [ˈvaɪ̯təs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wehte is recorded at frequency rank #45,686, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈveːtə]. weites is at rank #28,019, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯təs].

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 73705, this pair ranks #353,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wehte vs weites

Shared letters: etw. Private to "wehte": h. Private to "weites": is.

"wehte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "weites" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wehteewhte · wehet · wehhte · wehtte · wethe · whete · wwehte
  • weitesewites · weiets · weitess · weitse · weittes · weties · wietes · wweites

Frequency comparison

wehte#45,686
weites#28,019

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wehte" and "weites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wehte" is a verb and "weites" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wehte" or "weites"?
"weites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,019 in our German list, against #45,686 for "wehte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wehte vs weites

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wehte”; for an adjective, it's “weites”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wehte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list