wau

[vaʊ̯]

/[vaʊ̯]/ intj

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

The verdict

“wau” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #39,137) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#39,137
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Laut, der beim Bellen eines Hundes entsteht

Corpus desk

Index DE-wau · wau · German

wau · rank #39,137 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,137
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH Watte

Nearest frequency peer: Watte (-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.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „wau“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „wau“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

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).

wau vs wo
33% similar
wau vs WM
0% similar
wau vs WE
0% similar

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

Key facts for wau
PropertyValue
Headwordwau
LanguageGerman
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[vaʊ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#39,137
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „wau“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.wauliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „Watte“ (#39,136), „wechselnder“ (#39,138), „Wasserkocher“ (#39,135). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „wau“ bei #39,137. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for wau is neighbouring look-alikes ("wo", "WM", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced [vaʊ̯]. Frequency #39,137 among 2,930 “W” headwords. Gloss: "Laut, der beim Bellen eines Hundes entsteht".

wau doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wo", "WM", "WE", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is wau, spelled W-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Laut, der beim Bellen eines Hundes entsteht

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. "Wau!", brüllte der Köter, und ich erschrak.

Synonyms

wuff

This word in other languages

woof(English)guau(Español)ouaf(Français)

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 "wau"?
"wau" is spelled W-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is [vaʊ̯].
What does "wau" mean?
As an interjection, "wau" means: Laut, der beim Bellen eines Hundes entsteht
What words are commonly confused with "wau"?
"wau" 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 "wau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wau" is [vaʊ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wau" come from?
"wau" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "wau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

vos#39,125bav#39,229Emo#39,306Pis#38,949

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list