wennvswinkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wenn is a conjunction, wink is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wenn” is a conjunction and “wink” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41
“wenn” frequency rank
#22,970
“wink” frequency rank
23011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wenn wink
Definition sobald 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs winken

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wenn and wink apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
wenn
4 ch
wink

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wenn is [vɛn] while wink is [vɪŋk]. 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 (conjunction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wenn is recorded at frequency rank #41, classified as aconj, pronounced [vɛn]. wink is at rank #22,970, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɪŋk].

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 23011, this pair ranks #1,866,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wenn vs wink

Shared letters: nw. Private to "wenn": e. Private to "wink": ik.

"wenn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wink" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wennewnn · wnen · wwenn
  • winkiwnk · wikn · winkk · winnk · wnik · wwink

Frequency comparison

wenn#41
wink#22,970

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wenn" and "wink" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wenn" is a conjunction and "wink" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wenn" or "wink"?
"wenn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41 in our German list, against #22,970 for "wink". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wenn vs wink

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a conjunction, it's “wenn”; for a verb, it's “wink”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wenn” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list