wir

[viːɐ̯]

/[viːɐ̯]/ pron

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

The verdict

“wir” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #37) as a pronoun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#37
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - 1. Person Plural; mehrere Personen, die sprechende eingeschlossen

Corpus desk

Index DE-wir · wir · German

wir · rank #37 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #37
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH noch

Nearest frequency peer: noch (-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 “wir”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “wir” 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).

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

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

Key facts for wir
PropertyValue
Headwordwir
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[viːɐ̯]
Letters3
Frequency rank#37
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “wir” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „noch“ (#36), „du“ (#38), „nach“ (#35). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for wir is neighbouring look-alikes ("wo", "WM", …), not just typos; it is apronoun pronounced [viːɐ̯]. Frequency #37 among 2,930 “W” headwords. Gloss: "1. Person Plural; mehrere Personen, die sprechende eingeschlossen".

No generated misspelling entries exist for wir in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wo", "WM", "Wu", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is wir, spelled W-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    1. Person Plural; mehrere Personen, die sprechende eingeschlossen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Wir, das sind mindestens zwei.
  2. Mein Vater und ich reisen viel. Jetzt fahren wir nach Dänemark.

This word in other languages

we(English)nosotros(Español)nous(Français)nós(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 "wir"?
"wir" is spelled W-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is [viːɐ̯].
What does "wir" mean?
As a pronoun, "wir" means: 1. Person Plural; mehrere Personen, die sprechende eingeschlossen
What words are commonly confused with "wir"?
"wir" 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 "wir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wir" is [viːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wir" come from?
"wir" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

war#39nur#40hat#33aus#32

What to do next

You've looked up "wir". 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