genutztvsgewürztWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“genutzt” and “gewürzt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,388
“genutzt” frequency rank
#33,607
“gewürzt” frequency rank
34995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature genutzt gewürzt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs nutzen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs würzen

Where the eye mixes genutzt and gewürzt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. genutzt and gewürzt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
genutzt
7 ch
gewürzt

Why the eye confuses genutzt with gewürzt

A purely visual mix-up. genutzt ([ɡəˈnʊt͡st]) and gewürzt ([ɡəˈvʏʁt͡st]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

genutzt is recorded at frequency rank #1,388, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈnʊt͡st]. gewürzt is at rank #33,607, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvʏʁt͡st].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 34995, this pair ranks #1,650,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of genutzt vs gewürzt

Shared letters: egtz. Private to "genutzt": nu. Private to "gewürzt": rwü.

"genutzt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "gewürzt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • genutztegnutzt · gennutzt · gentuzt · genuttz · genuttzt · genutztt · genutzzt · genuztt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "genutzt" and "gewürzt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈnʊt͡st] versus [ɡəˈvʏʁt͡st]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "genutzt" or "gewürzt" show up more?
"genutzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,388 in our German list, against #33,607 for "gewürzt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "genutzt" and "gewürzt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "genutzt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewürzt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,650,516 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "genutzt" and "gewürzt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gekürzte vs gewürzt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,650,516 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list