WespenvswessenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Wespen is a noun, wessen is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wespen” is a noun and “wessen” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,568
“Wespen” frequency rank
#12,833
“wessen” frequency rank
35401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wespen wessen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Wespe Genitiv von wer

Where the eye mixes Wespen and wessen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Wespen and wessen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
Wespen
6 ch
wessen

Look-alike desk: Wespen vs wessen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wespen is [ˈvɛspn̩] while wessen is [ˈvɛsn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - p in “Wespen” becomes s in “wessen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wespen is recorded at frequency rank #22,568, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛspn̩]. wessen is at rank #12,833, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈvɛsn̩].

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 35401, this pair ranks #1,640,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wespen vs wessen

Shared letters: ensw. Private to "Wespen": p. Private to "wessen": -.

"Wespen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wessen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wespen ← ewspen · wepsen · wesepn · wespenn · wespne · wesppen · wesspen · wsepen
  • wessen ← ewssen · wesesn · wessenn · wessne · weßen · wsesen · wwessen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Wespen" and "wessen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wespen" is a noun and "wessen" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Wespen" vs "wessen" - which ranks higher?
"wessen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,833 in our German list, against #22,568 for "Wespen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wespen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wessen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,640,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wespen" and "wessen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs Wespen". 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 #1,640,900 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