weisvsweitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: weis is a verb, weit is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weis” is a verb and “weit” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,848
“weis” frequency rank
#355
“weit” frequency rank
8203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weis weit
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weisen (flächenhaft) ausgedehnt

Where the eye mixes weis and weit

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

4 ch
weis
4 ch
weit

Why the eye confuses weis with weit

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weis is [vaɪ̯s] while weit is [vaɪ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “weis” becomes t in “weit”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weis is recorded at frequency rank #7,848, classified as averb, pronounced [vaɪ̯s]. weit is at rank #355, tagged as anadj, pronounced [vaɪ̯t].

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 8203, this pair ranks #1,985,234 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weis vs weit

Shared letters: eiw. Private to "weis": s. Private to "weit": t.

"weis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "weit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weisewis · weiss · wesi · wies · wweis
  • weitewit · weitt · weti · wiet · wweit

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weis" and "weit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weis" is a verb and "weit" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "weis" vs "weit" - which ranks higher?
"weit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #355 in our German list, against #7,848 for "weis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "weis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "weit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,985,234 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weis" and "weit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weis 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 #1,985,234 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