wissen
[ˈvɪsn̩]
The verdict
“wissen” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #263 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #263
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | wissen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈvɪsn̩] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #263 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “wissen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for wissen is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, 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 generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for wissen, with forms such as "iwssen", "wisen", and "wisesn". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wisst", "Witten", "Wüsten", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is wissen, spelled W-I-S-S-E-N.
Definition
- 1von etwas oder jemandem Kenntnis haben durch Mitteilung oder Erfahrung; sich über etwas sicher, bewusst sein
- 2sich sicher sein, dass etwas Bestimmtes zutrifft
- 3zu etwas imstande sein, fähig sein
- 4in verschiedenen Wendungen als Verstärkung
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: iwssen,wisen,wisesn,wissenn,wissne,wißen,wsisen,wwissen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wissen - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “wissen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is W-I-S-S-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈvɪsn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wisst” - see the side-by-side comparison. wissen vs wisst
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.