WillemvsWilliWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,873
“Willem” frequency rank
#6,611
“Willi” frequency rank
37484
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Willem Willi
Definition männlicher Vorname männlicher Vorname

Letter map: Willem vs Willi

Shared letters muted; letters that set Willem and Willi apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
Willem
5 ch
Willi

Pair insight - Willem / Willi

Willem and Willi are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Willem is recorded at frequency rank #30,873, classified as aname, pronounced […]. Willi is at rank #6,611, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈvɪli].

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 37484, this pair ranks #1,589,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Willem vs Willi

Shared letters: ilw. Private to "Willem": em. Private to "Willi": -.

"Willem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Willi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Willemiwllem · wilelm · wilem · willemm · willme · wlilem · wwillem
  • Williiwlli · wili · wilil · wlili · wwilli

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Willem" and "Willi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Willem" vs "Willi" - which ranks higher?
"Willi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,611 in our German list, against #30,873 for "Willem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "Willem" and "Willi". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Willem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Willi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,589,005 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Willem" and "Willi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Willem". 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 #1,589,005 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