wissen

/[ˈvɪsn̩]/ verb

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#263

in German word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

wissen is aGermanverb. It means: von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein Pronounced [ˈvɪsn̩]. It ranks #263 in German word frequency. Often confused with wisst and Witten.

Key facts for wissen
PropertyValue
Headwordwissen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈvɪsn̩]
Letters6
Frequency rank#263
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of wissen in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for wissen is 6 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈvɪsn̩]. Corpus data places it at rank #263 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for wissen, with forms such as "iwssen", "wisen", and "wisesn". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wisst", "Witten", "Wüsten", 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 spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is wissen, spelled W-I-S-S-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein
  2. 2
    sich sicher sein, dass etwas Bestimmtes zutrifft
  3. 3
    zu etwas imstande sein, fähig sein
  4. 4
    in verschiedenen Wendungen als Verstärkung

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: iwssen,wisen,wisesn,wissenn,wissne,wißen,wsisen,wwissen

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for wissen

Misspelling Variants of "wissen"

iwssen6wisen5wisesn6wissenn7wissne6wißen5wsisen6wwissen7
Misspelling Variants of "wissen"

Frequency rank: #263 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "wissen"?
"wissen" is spelled W-I-S-S-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈvɪsn̩].
What does "wissen" mean?
As a verb, "wissen" means: von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein
What words are commonly confused with "wissen"?
"wissen" is commonly confused with "wisst", "Witten", "Wüsten". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wissen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wissen" is [ˈvɪsn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wissen" come from?
"wissen" 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.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.