wie

[viː]

/[viː]/ adv

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

The verdict

“wie” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #30) as an adverb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#30
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Als modales Interrogativadverb erfragt „wie“ ein Adverb beziehungsweise ein Adverbiale und damit die Art und Weise. Es steht stets an der Spitze eines Hauptsatzes oder eines Interrogativnebensatzes.

Corpus desk

Index DE-wie · wie · German

wie · rank #30 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #30
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH bei

Nearest frequency peer: bei (-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 „wie“

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

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „wie“ 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).

wie vs wo
33% similar
wie vs WM
0% similar
wie vs Wu
0% similar

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

Key facts for wie
PropertyValue
Headwordwie
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdverb
IPA[viː]
Letters3
Frequency rank#30
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „wie“

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „bei“ (#29), „aber“ (#31), „so“ (#28). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „wie“ bei #30. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for wie is neighbouring look-alikes ("wo", "WM", …), not just typos; it is anadverb pronounced [viː]. Frequency #30 among 2,930 “W” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for wie, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wo", "WM", "Wu", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is wie, spelled W-I-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Als modales Interrogativadverb erfragt „wie“ ein Adverb beziehungsweise ein Adverbiale und damit die Art und Weise. Es steht stets an der Spitze eines Hauptsatzes oder eines Interrogativnebensatzes.
  2. 2
    Wird „wie“ einem Adjektiv oder Adverb vorangestellt, erfragt es den jeweiligen Grad, den etwas hat beziehungsweise in dem etwas ist oder geschieht.
  3. 3
    in Ausrufen des Bedauerns, Erstaunens, der Freude
  4. 4
    als relativer Anschluss

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Wie wird das Wetter morgen?
  2. Wie heißt du eigentlich?

This word in other languages

how(English)¿cómo?(Español)comment(Français)como(Português)

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 "wie"?
"wie" is spelled W-I-E. The IPA pronunciation is [viː].
What does "wie" mean?
As an adverb, "wie" means: Als modales Interrogativadverb erfragt „wie“ ein Adverb beziehungsweise ein Adverbiale und damit die Art und Weise. Es steht stets an der Spitze eines Hauptsatzes oder eines Interrogativnebensatzes.
What words are commonly confused with "wie"?
"wie" is commonly confused with "wo", "WM", "Wu". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wie"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wie" is [viː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wie" come from?
"wie" 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 "wie", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

bei#29aus#32hat#33als#24

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list