WändevsWändenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,237
“Wände” frequency rank
#8,308
“Wänden” frequency rank
13545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wände Wänden
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Wand Dativ Plural des Substantivs Wand

Where the eye mixes Wände and Wänden

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

5 ch
Wände
6 ch
Wänden

Visual trap between Wände and Wänden

A purely visual mix-up. Wände ([ˈvɛndə]) and Wänden ([ˈvɛndn̩]) 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) - “Wände” sits inside “Wänden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wände is recorded at frequency rank #5,237, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛndə]. Wänden is at rank #8,308, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛndn̩].

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 13545, this pair ranks #1,957,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wände vs Wänden

Shared letters: denwä. Private to "Wände": -. Private to "Wänden": -.

"Wände" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Wänden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wände" for "Wänden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛndə] versus [ˈvɛndn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Wände" vs "Wänden" - which ranks higher?
"Wände" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,237 in our German list, against #8,308 for "Wänden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wände" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wänden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,957,296 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wände" and "Wänden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wänden vs warnten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,957,296 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