weisvsWertWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,848
“weis” frequency rank
#562
“Wert” frequency rank
8410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weis Wert
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weisen meist in Geld ausgedrücktes materielles Äquivalent einer Sache, einer Dienstleistung oder einer Information

Where the eye mixes weis and Wert

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

4 ch
weis
4 ch
Wert

Look-alike desk: weis vs Wert

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weis is [vaɪ̯s] while Wert is [veːɐ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8410, 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]. Wert is at rank #562, tagged as anoun, pronounced [veːɐ̯t].

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 8410, this pair ranks #1,984,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weis vs Wert

Shared letters: ew. Private to "weis": is. Private to "Wert": rt.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weisewis · weiss · wesi · wies · wweis
  • Wertewrt · werrt · wertt · wetr · wret · wwert

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weis" and "Wert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weis" is a verb and "Wert" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "weis" or "Wert"?
"Wert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #562 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.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "weis" and "Wert" 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 "Wert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,984,414 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weis" and "Wert" 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 #1,984,414 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