William

[/ˈvɪl.jam/]

/[/ˈvɪl.jam/]/ name

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

The verdict

“William” has 8 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #4,317. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,317
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-william · William · German

William · rank #4,317 · 8 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,317
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH white

Nearest frequency peer: white (-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.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „William“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „William“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

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).

William vs willig
57% similar
William vs willige
57% similar
William vs Willich
71% similar

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

Key facts for William
PropertyValue
HeadwordWilliam
LanguageGerman
Part of speechProper noun
IPA[/ˈvɪl.jam/]
Letters7
Frequency rank#4,317
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „William“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Williamliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „white“ (#4,316), „Wärme“ (#4,318), „Welle“ (#4,315). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „William“ bei #4,317. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around William (IPA [/ˈvɪl.jam/]), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #4,317 among 2,930 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "männlicher Vorname".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for William, with forms such as "iwlliam", "wiliam", and "wililam". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "willig", "willige", "Willich", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

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 William, spelled W-I-L-L-I-A-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    männlicher Vorname

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. William hat einen kleinen Schrebergarten geerbt.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iwlliam
  • wiliam
  • wililam
  • willaim
  • williamm
  • willima
  • wliliam
  • wwilliam

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of William - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

iwlliam2wiliam1wililam2willaim2williamm1willima2wliliam2wwilliam1
Edit distance from "William"

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 "William"?
"William" is spelled W-I-L-L-I-A-M. The IPA pronunciation is [/ˈvɪl.jam/].
What does "William" mean?
As a proper noun, "William" means: männlicher Vorname
What words are commonly confused with "William"?
"William" is commonly confused with "willig", "willige", "Willich". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "William"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "William" is [/ˈvɪl.jam/]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "William" come from?
"William" 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 "William", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

zitiert#4,320verlegt#4,312berührt#4,329besorgt#4,330

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

Tiefen8 variantsbeider8 variantsschief8 variantsEhemann8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list