unnützvsunnützeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,345
“unnütz” frequency rank
#49,325
“unnütze” frequency rank
79670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unnütz unnütze
Definition keinen (zusätzlichen) Vorteil/Nutzen bietend und deshalb überflüssig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs unnütz

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set unnütz and unnütze apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
unnütz
7 ch
unnütze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. unnütz ([ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s]) and unnütze ([ˈʊnˌnʏt͡sə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “unnütz” sits inside “unnütze”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unnütz is recorded at frequency rank #30,345, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s]. unnütze is at rank #49,325, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʊnˌnʏt͡sə].

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 79670, this pair ranks #211,627 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of unnütz vs unnütze

Shared letters: ntuzü. Private to "unnütz": -. Private to "unnütze": e.

"unnütz" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "unnütze" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unnütz" and "unnütze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʊnˌnʏt͡s] versus [ˈʊnˌnʏt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "unnütz" or "unnütze"?
"unnütz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,345 in our German list, against #49,325 for "unnütze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list