widmenvswissenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,134
“widmen” frequency rank
#263
“wissen” frequency rank
7397
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature widmen wissen
Definition als Autor, Künstler oder Ähnliches ein eigenes Werk für jemand anderen bestimmen von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein

Where the eye mixes widmen and wissen

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

6 ch
widmen
6 ch
wissen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. widmen ([ˈvɪtmən]) and wissen ([ˈvɪsn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

widmen is recorded at frequency rank #7,134, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪtmən]. wissen is at rank #263, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪsn̩].

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 7397, this pair ranks #1,988,310 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of widmen vs wissen

Shared letters: einw. Private to "widmen": dm. Private to "wissen": s.

"widmen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wissen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • widmeniwdmen · wdimen · widdmen · widemn · widmenn · widmmen · widmne · wimden
  • wisseniwssen · wisen · wisesn · wissenn · wissne · wißen · wsisen · wwissen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "widmen" and "wissen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪtmən] versus [ˈvɪsn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "widmen" or "wissen"?
"wissen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #263 in our German list, against #7,134 for "widmen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list