ungutvsunnützWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,362
“ungut” frequency rank
#30,345
“unnütz” frequency rank
55707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ungut unnütz
Definition in Redensarten: schlecht keinen (zusätzlichen) Vorteil/Nutzen bietend und deshalb überflüssig

Where the eye mixes ungut and unnütz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ungut runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against unnütz's 6 (VCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ungut
6 ch
unnütz

Visual trap between ungut and unnütz

A purely visual mix-up. ungut ([ˈʊnˌɡuːt]) and unnütz ([ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s]) 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 55707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ungut is recorded at frequency rank #25,362, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnˌɡuːt]. unnütz is at rank #30,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s].

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 55707, this pair ranks #969,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ungut vs unnütz

Shared letters: ntu. Private to "ungut": g. Private to "unnütz": zü.

"ungut" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "unnütz" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ungut ← nugut · ugnut · unggut · ungtu · ungutt · unngut · unugt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ungut" for "unnütz" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnˌɡuːt] versus [ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ungut" vs "unnütz" - which ranks higher?
"ungut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,362 in our German list, against #30,345 for "unnütz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ungut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unnütz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #969,013 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ungut" and "unnütz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unnütz vs unnütze". 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 #969,013 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