willigvswinzigWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,843
“willig” frequency rank
#21,485
“winzig” frequency rank
47328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature willig winzig
Definition Erwartungen, Anforderungen von anderen gerne erfüllend sehr klein

Where the eye mixes willig and winzig

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

6 ch
willig
6 ch
winzig

Look-alike desk: willig vs winzig

A purely visual mix-up. willig ([ˈvɪlɪç]) and winzig ([ˈvɪnt͡sɪç]) 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 47328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

willig is recorded at frequency rank #25,843, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪlɪç]. winzig is at rank #21,485, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪnt͡sɪç].

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 47328, this pair ranks #1,288,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of willig vs winzig

Shared letters: giw. Private to "willig": l. Private to "winzig": nz.

"willig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "winzig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • willigiwllig · wilig · wililg · willgi · willigg · wlilig · wwillig
  • winzigiwnzig · winizg · winnzig · winzgi · winzigg · winzzig · wiznig · wnizig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "willig" and "winzig" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɪlɪç] versus [ˈvɪnt͡sɪç]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "willig" or "winzig"?
"winzig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,485 in our German list, against #25,843 for "willig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "willig" and "winzig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "willig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "winzig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,288,196 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "willig" and "winzig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Willich vs willig". 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 #1,288,196 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