weiltvswellWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,478
“weilt” frequency rank
#9,299
“well” frequency rank
37777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weilt well
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weilen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wellen

Where the eye mixes weilt and well

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. weilt runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against well's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
weilt
4 ch
well

Why the eye confuses weilt with well

A purely visual mix-up. weilt ([vaɪ̯lt]) and well ([vɛl]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weilt is recorded at frequency rank #28,478, classified as averb, pronounced [vaɪ̯lt]. well is at rank #9,299, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɛl].

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 37777, this pair ranks #1,581,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weilt vs well

Shared letters: elw. Private to "weilt": it. Private to "well": -.

"weilt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "well" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weilt ← ewilt · weillt · weiltt · weitl · welit · wielt · wweilt
  • well ← ewll · wel · wlel · wwell

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weilt" for "well" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vaɪ̯lt] versus [vɛl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "weilt" or "well" show up more?
"well" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,299 in our German list, against #28,478 for "weilt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "weilt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "well" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,581,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weilt" and "well" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilt 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 #1,581,301 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