JudenvsJudoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,667
“Juden” frequency rank
#20,638
“Judo” frequency rank
22305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Juden Judo
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Jude ein japanischer Kampfsport für Verteidigung und Angriff

Where the eye mixes Juden and Judo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Juden runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Judo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Juden
4 ch
Judo

Why the eye confuses Juden with Judo

A purely visual mix-up. Juden ([ˈjuːdn̩]) and Judo ([ˈjuːdo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Juden is recorded at frequency rank #1,667, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈjuːdn̩]. 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 22305, this pair ranks #1,875,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Juden vs Judo

Shared letters: dju. Private to "Juden": en. Private to "Judo": o.

"Juden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Judo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Juden ← jduen · jjuden · judden · judenn · judne · juedn · ujden
  • Judo ← jduo · jjudo · juddo · juod · ujdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Juden" and "Judo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈjuːdn̩] versus [ˈjuːdo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Juden" or "Judo" show up more?
"Juden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,667 in our German list, against #20,638 for "Judo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Juden" 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 #1,875,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Juden" 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 #1,875,768 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