won

[…]

/[…]/ verb

The verdict

“won” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #25,404 in German word frequency and used as a verb.

#25,404
frequency rank, German
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs win

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

won vs Wu
0% similar
won vs WP
0% similar
won vs WS
0% similar

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

Key facts for won
PropertyValue
Headwordwon
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[…]
Letters3
Frequency rank#25,404
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “won” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). won lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for won is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as […]. Corpus data places it at rank #25,404 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs win".

won doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Wu", "WP", "WS", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is won, spelled W-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs win

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 "won"?
"won" is spelled W-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "won" mean?
As a verb, "won" means: Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs win
What words are commonly confused with "won"?
"won" is commonly confused with "Wu", "WP", "WS". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "won"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "won" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "won" come from?
"won" 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.

Using “won”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is W-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as […] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “Wu” - see the side-by-side comparison. won vs Wu
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list