wenigevswenigerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#982
“wenige” frequency rank
#342
“weniger” frequency rank
1324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wenige weniger
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wenig Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wenig

Where the eye mixes wenige and weniger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wenige
7 ch
weniger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wenige ([ˈveːnɪɡə]) and weniger ([ˈveːnɪɡɐ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “wenige” sits inside “weniger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wenige is recorded at frequency rank #982, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːnɪɡə]. weniger is at rank #342, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈveːnɪɡɐ].

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 1324, this pair ranks #2,004,545 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wenige vs weniger

Shared letters: eginw. Private to "wenige": -. Private to "weniger": r.

"wenige" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "weniger" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wenigeewnige · weinge · wengie · wenieg · wenigge · wennige · wneige · wwenige
  • wenigerewniger · weinger · wengier · weniegr · wenigerr · wenigger · wenigre · wenniger

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wenige" and "weniger" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈveːnɪɡə] versus [ˈveːnɪɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wenige" or "weniger"?
"weniger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #342 in our German list, against #982 for "wenige". 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