widow

[ˈwɪdəʊ]

/[ˈwɪdəʊ]/ noun

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

The verdict

“widow” is uncommon German (frequency #68,890 among 2,930 “W” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,890
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Witwe

Corpus desk

Index DE-widow · widow · German

widow · rank #68,890 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,890
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH widerstrebt

Nearest frequency peer: widerstrebt (-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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „widow“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „widow“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for widow
PropertyValue
Headwordwidow
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈwɪdəʊ]
Letters5
Frequency rank#68,890
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „widow“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).widowfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „widerstrebt“ (#68,889), „wiedergesehen“ (#68,891), „widerspenstigen“ (#68,888). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „widow“ bei #68,890. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

widow is uncommon German at frequency #68,890 among 2,930 “W” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈwɪdəʊ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

widow has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is widow, spelled W-I-D-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    Witwe
  2. 2
    eine einzelne Zeile eines Absatzes, die auf einer neuen Seite steht, während alle anderen Zeilen noch auf der vorherigen Seite stehen; Hurenkind

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 "widow"?
"widow" is spelled W-I-D-O-W. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈwɪdəʊ].
What does "widow" mean?
As a noun, "widow" means: Witwe
How do you pronounce "widow"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "widow" is [ˈwɪdəʊ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "widow" come from?
"widow" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "widow", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Wraps#68,904wankt#68,869zollt#68,917vario#68,813

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list