Which to use
“weihen” and “weilen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,119
- “weihen” frequency rank
- #47,125
- “weilen” frequency rank
- 83244
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weihen | weilen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine Person durch besondere religiöse Handlungen in ein Amt einführen | sich an einem Ort aufhalten, an einem Ort bleiben |
Where the eye mixes weihen and weilen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. weihen and weilen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: weihen vs weilen
A purely visual mix-up. weihen ([ˈvaɪ̯ən]) and weilen ([ˈvaɪ̯lən]) 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 a single letter - h in “weihen” becomes l in “weilen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weihen is recorded at frequency rank #36,119, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ən]. weilen is at rank #47,125, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯lən].
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 83244, this pair ranks #143,168 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of weihen vs weilen
Shared letters: einw. Private to "weihen": h. Private to "weilen": l.
"weihen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "weilen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "weihen" and "weilen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "weihen" or "weilen" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "weihen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,168 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weihen" and "weilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs Weines". 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 #143,168 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.