w

[veː]

/[veː]/ abbrev

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“w” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #642) as an abbreviation. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#642
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - w ist eine wenig verbreitete Abkürzung für „Woche“

Corpus desk

Index DE-w · w · German

w · rank #642 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #642
  • LEN-SHORT 1 letters
  • VOW-0 0 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH Seiten

Nearest frequency peer: Seiten (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “w”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “w” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

w vs wo
50% similar
w vs WM
0% similar
w vs WE
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for w
PropertyValue
Headwordw
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
IPA[veː]
Letters1
Frequency rank#642
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “w” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).wliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Seiten“ (#641), „willst“ (#643), „reden“ (#640). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for w is neighbouring look-alikes ("wo", "WM", …), not just typos; it is anabbreviation pronounced [veː]. Frequency #642 among 2,930 “W” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for w in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wo", "WM", "WE", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is w, spelled W.

Definition

  1. 1
    w ist eine wenig verbreitete Abkürzung für „Woche“
  2. 2
    die Kleinschreibform/Minuskel des 23. Buchstaben des lateinischen Alphabetes

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how w appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1 w hat 7 Tage.
  2. In alphabetischer Reihenfolge kommt vor „w“ „v“ und nach „w“ kommt „x“.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "w"?
"w" is spelled W. The IPA pronunciation is [veː].
What does "w" mean?
As an abbreviation, "w" means: w ist eine wenig verbreitete Abkürzung für „Woche“
What words are commonly confused with "w"?
"w" is commonly confused with "wo", "WM", "WE". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "w"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "w" is [veː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "w" come from?
"w" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

You've looked up "w". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list