wiegenvsWienerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wiegen is a verb, Wiener is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,205
“wiegen” frequency rank
#1,532
“Wiener” frequency rank
13737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wiegen Wiener
Definition das Gewicht von jemandem oder etwas messen, schätzen aus Wien stammend, zu Wien gehörig

Where the eye mixes wiegen and Wiener

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wiegen and Wiener follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
wiegen
6 ch
Wiener

Visual trap between wiegen and Wiener

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wiegen is [ˈviːɡn̩] while Wiener is [ˈviːnɐ]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wiegen is recorded at frequency rank #12,205, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈviːɡn̩]. Wiener is at rank #1,532, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈviːnɐ].

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 13737, this pair ranks #1,956,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wiegen vs Wiener

Shared letters: einw. Private to "wiegen": g. Private to "Wiener": r.

"wiegen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Wiener" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wiegen ← iwegen · wieegn · wiegenn · wieggen · wiegne · wigeen · wwiegen
  • Wiener ← iwener · weiner · wieenr · wienerr · wienner · wienre · wineer · wwiener

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wiegen" and "Wiener" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wiegen" is a verb and "Wiener" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wiegen" or "Wiener"?
"Wiener" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,532 in our German list, against #12,205 for "wiegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wiegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wiener" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,956,054 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wiegen" and "Wiener" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wiegen vs Winsen". 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 #1,956,054 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