weinenvsWeitenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,862
“weinen” frequency rank
#4,577
“Weiten” frequency rank
8439
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weinen Weiten
Definition Tränen vergießen Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Weite

Where the eye mixes weinen and Weiten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
weinen
6 ch
Weiten

Visual trap between weinen and Weiten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weinen is [ˈvaɪ̯nən] while Weiten is [ˈvaɪ̯tn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “weinen” becomes t in “Weiten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8439, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weinen is recorded at frequency rank #3,862, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯nən]. Weiten is at rank #4,577, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯tn̩].

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 8439, this pair ranks #1,984,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weinen vs Weiten

Shared letters: einw. Private to "weinen": -. Private to "Weiten": t.

"weinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Weiten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weinenewinen · weienn · weinenn · weinne · weinnen · wenien · wienen · wweinen
  • Weitenewiten · weietn · weitenn · weitne · weitten · wetien · wieten · wweiten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weinen" for "Weiten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weinen" is a verb and "Weiten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "weinen" or "Weiten" show up more?
"weinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,862 in our German list, against #4,577 for "Weiten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "weinen" and "Weiten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weinen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Weiten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,984,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weinen" and "Weiten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weiten vs writer". 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 #1,984,270 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