weistvswentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,275
“weist” frequency rank
#48,632
“went” frequency rank
50907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes weist and went

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

5 ch
weist
4 ch
went

Visual trap between weist and went

A purely visual mix-up. weist ([vaɪ̯st]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weist is recorded at frequency rank #2,275, classified as averb, pronounced [vaɪ̯st]. 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 50907, this pair ranks #1,155,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of weist vs went

Shared letters: etw. Private to "weist": is. Private to "went": n.

"weist" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weistewist · weisst · weistt · weits · wesit · wiest · wweist
  • wentewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weist" for "went" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vaɪ̯st] versus [went]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "weist" or "went"?
"weist" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,275 in our German list, against #48,632 for "went". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "weist" 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 #1,155,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weist" 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 #1,155,797 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