WeinvsweinteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,950
“Wein” frequency rank
#20,791
“weinte” frequency rank
22741
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wein weinte
Definition die Rebe (Vitis), an der ^([2]) wächst 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs weinen

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
Wein
6 ch
weinte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wein is [vaɪ̯n] while weinte is [ˈvaɪ̯ntə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Wein” sits inside “weinte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wein is recorded at frequency rank #1,950, classified as anoun, pronounced [vaɪ̯n]. weinte is at rank #20,791, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ntə].

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 22741, this pair ranks #1,870,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wein vs weinte

Shared letters: einw. Private to "Wein": -. Private to "weinte": t.

"Wein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "weinte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weinewin · weinn · weni · wwein
  • weinteewinte · weinet · weinnte · weintte · wenite · wiente · wweinte

Frequency comparison

Wein#1,950
weinte#20,791

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wein" and "weinte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wein" is a noun and "weinte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Wein" or "weinte"?
"Wein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,950 in our German list, against #20,791 for "weinte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Wein vs weinte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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