weisevsweistWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: weise is a adjective, weist is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#740
“weise” frequency rank
#2,275
“weist” frequency rank
3015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weise weist
Definition reich an Wissen und Lebenserfahrung 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs weisen

Where the eye mixes weise and weist

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
weise
5 ch
weist

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weise is [ˈvaɪ̯zə] while weist is [vaɪ̯st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “weise” becomes t in “weist”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weise is recorded at frequency rank #740, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯zə]. weist is at rank #2,275, tagged as averb, pronounced [vaɪ̯st].

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 3015, this pair ranks #2,001,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weise vs weist

Shared letters: eisw. Private to "weise": -. Private to "weist": t.

"weise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "weist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weiseewise · weies · weisse · wesie · wweise
  • weistewist · weisst · weistt · weits · wesit · wiest · wweist

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "weise" and "weist" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weise" is an adjective and "weist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "weise" or "weist"?
"weise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #740 in our German list, against #2,275 for "weist". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list