verwundertvsverwundeteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: verwundert is a verb, verwundete is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“verwundert” is a verb and “verwundete” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,482
“verwundert” frequency rank
#25,819
“verwundete” frequency rank
35301
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature verwundert verwundete
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs verwundern Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs verwundet

Where the eye mixes verwundert and verwundete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. verwundert (CVCCVCCVCC) and verwundete (CVCCVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
verwundert
10 ch
verwundete

Look-alike desk: verwundert vs verwundete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: verwundert is [fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndɐt] while verwundete is [fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndətə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

verwundert is recorded at frequency rank #9,482, classified as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndɐt]. verwundete is at rank #25,819, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈvʊndətə].

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 35301, this pair ranks #1,643,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of verwundert vs verwundete

Shared letters: denrtuvw. Private to "verwundert": -. Private to "verwundete": -.

"verwundert" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "verwundete" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • verwundertevrwundert · verrwundert · veruwndert · verwnudert · verwudnert · verwunddert · verwunderrt · verwundertt
  • verwundeteevrwundete · verrwundete · veruwndete · verwnudete · verwudnete · verwunddete · verwundeet · verwundette

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "verwundert" for "verwundete" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "verwundert" is a verb and "verwundete" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "verwundert" vs "verwundete" - which ranks higher?
"verwundert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,482 in our German list, against #25,819 for "verwundete". 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 "verwundert" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verwundete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,643,235 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "verwundert" and "verwundete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verwundern vs verwundete". 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 #1,643,235 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