jovsJudoTell them apart

Quick tell: jo is a particle, Judo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jo” is a particle and “Judo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,460
“jo” frequency rank
#20,638
“Judo” frequency rank
24098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jo Judo
Definition nein ein japanischer Kampfsport für Verteidigung und Angriff

Where the eye mixes jo and Judo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch
jo
4 ch
Judo

Look-alike desk: jo vs Judo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jo is [jɔ] while Judo is [ˈjuːdo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jo is recorded at frequency rank #3,460, classified as aparticle, pronounced [jɔ]. Judo is at rank #20,638, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈjuːdo].

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 24098, this pair ranks #1,852,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jo vs Judo

Shared letters: jo. Private to "jo": -. Private to "Judo": du.

"jo" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "Judo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Judojduo · jjudo · juddo · juod · ujdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jo" and "Judo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jo" is a particle and "Judo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "jo" or "Judo" show up more?
"jo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,460 in our German list, against #20,638 for "Judo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Judo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,852,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jo" and "Judo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Judo vs juror". 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 #1,852,390 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