wandtenvswindenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,565
“wandten” frequency rank
#23,377
“winden” frequency rank
50942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wandten winden
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wenden etwas drehen, wickeln

Where the eye mixes wandten and winden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wandten runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against winden's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
wandten
6 ch
winden

Look-alike desk: wandten vs winden

A purely visual mix-up. wandten ([ˈvantn̩]) and winden ([ˈvɪndn̩]) 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 50942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wandten is recorded at frequency rank #27,565, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvantn̩]. winden is at rank #23,377, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪndn̩].

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 50942, this pair ranks #1,154,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wandten vs winden

Shared letters: denw. Private to "wandten": at. Private to "winden": i.

"wandten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "winden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wandten ← awndten · wadnten · wanddten · wandetn · wandtenn · wandtne · wandtten · wanndten
  • winden ← iwnden · widnen · windden · windenn · windne · winedn · winnden · wniden

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wandten" and "winden" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvantn̩] versus [ˈvɪndn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wandten" vs "winden" - which ranks higher?
"winden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,377 in our German list, against #27,565 for "wandten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wandten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "winden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,154,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wandten" and "winden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wandten vs warnten". 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 #1,154,509 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