weigerevswenigerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#31,366
“weigere” frequency rank
#342
“weniger” frequency rank
31708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weigere weniger
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weigern Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wenig

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set weigere and weniger apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
weigere
7 ch
weniger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weigere is [ˈvaɪ̯ɡəʁə] while weniger is [ˈveːnɪɡɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weigere is recorded at frequency rank #31,366, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ɡəʁə]. weniger is at rank #342, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːnɪɡɐ].

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 31708, this pair ranks #1,722,722 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weigere vs weniger

Shared letters: egirw. Private to "weigere": -. Private to "weniger": n.

"weigere" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "weniger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weigereewigere · wegiere · weiegre · weigeer · weigerre · weiggere · weigree · wiegere
  • wenigerewniger · weinger · wengier · weniegr · wenigerr · wenigger · wenigre · wenniger

Frequency comparison

weigere#31,366
weniger#342

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "weigere" and "weniger" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weigere" is a verb and "weniger" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "weigere" or "weniger"?
"weniger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #342 in our German list, against #31,366 for "weigere". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering weigere vs weniger

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “weigere”; for an adjective, it's “weniger”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “weigere” 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