WeinsvswesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Weins is a noun, wes is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Weins” is a noun and “wes” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,627
“Weins” frequency rank
#22,214
“wes” frequency rank
70841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Weins wes
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Wein wessen (Genitiv von wer und was)

Where the eye mixes Weins and wes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Weins
3 ch
wes

Why the eye confuses Weins with wes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Weins is [vaɪ̯ns] while wes is [vɛs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Weins is recorded at frequency rank #48,627, classified as anoun, pronounced [vaɪ̯ns]. wes is at rank #22,214, tagged as apron, pronounced [vɛs].

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 70841, this pair ranks #434,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Weins vs wes

Shared letters: esw. Private to "Weins": in. Private to "wes": -.

"Weins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "wes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Weinsewins · weinns · weinss · wenis · wweins

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Weins" for "wes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Weins" is a noun and "wes" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Weins" or "wes"?
"wes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,214 in our German list, against #48,627 for "Weins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Weins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Weins" and "wes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Weins 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 #434,302 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