weisvswentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,848
“weis” frequency rank
#48,632
“went” frequency rank
56480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weis went
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weisen Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs go

Where the eye mixes weis and went

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
weis
4 ch
went

Why the eye confuses weis with went

A purely visual mix-up. weis ([vaɪ̯s]) and went ([went]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56480, 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]. went is at rank #48,632, tagged as averb, pronounced [went].

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 56480, this pair ranks #938,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of weis vs went

Shared letters: ew. Private to "weis": is. Private to "went": nt.

"weis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weisewis · weiss · wesi · wies · wweis
  • wentewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weis" and "went" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([vaɪ̯s] versus [went]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "weis" or "went"?
"weis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,848 in our German list, against #48,632 for "went". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "weis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "went" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #938,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weis" and "went" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wants 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 #938,508 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