WiegevswiegenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Wiege is a noun, wiegen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wiege” is a noun and “wiegen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,209
“Wiege” frequency rank
#12,205
“wiegen” frequency rank
26414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wiege wiegen
Definition entweder mit zwei abgerundeten Kufen beziehungsweise Schaukelbrettern versehenes beziehungsweise in ein spezielles Gestell eingehängtes oder frei von der Decke hängendes kastenförmiges Bettchen für Säuglinge, mithilfe dessen der Säugling (in Längs- oder Querrichtung) gewiegt beziehungsweise geschaukelt werden kann das Gewicht von jemandem oder etwas messen, schätzen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Wiege and wiegen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Wiege
6 ch
wiegen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wiege is [ˈviːɡə] while wiegen is [ˈviːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Wiege” sits inside “wiegen”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wiege is recorded at frequency rank #14,209, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈviːɡə]. wiegen is at rank #12,205, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈviːɡn̩].

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 26414, this pair ranks #1,818,481 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wiege vs wiegen

Shared letters: egiw. Private to "Wiege": -. Private to "wiegen": n.

"Wiege" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "wiegen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wiegeiwege · wieeg · wiegge · wigee · wwiege
  • wiegeniwegen · wieegn · wiegenn · wieggen · wiegne · wigeen · wwiegen

Frequency comparison

Wiege#14,209
wiegen#12,205

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wiege" and "wiegen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wiege" is a noun and "wiegen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Wiege" or "wiegen"?
"wiegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,205 in our German list, against #14,209 for "Wiege". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Wiege vs wiegen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Wiege”; for a verb, it's “wiegen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Wiege” 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