wenvswundConfusable pair

Quick tell: wen is a pronoun, wund is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wen” is a pronoun and “wund” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,529
“wen” frequency rank
#27,577
“wund” frequency rank
29106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wen wund
Definition Akkusativ von wer an der Haut aufgeschürft

Where the eye mixes wen and wund

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
wen
4 ch
wund

Why the eye confuses wen with wund

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wen is [veːn] while wund is [vʊnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wen is recorded at frequency rank #1,529, classified as apron, pronounced [veːn]. wund is at rank #27,577, tagged as anadj, pronounced [vʊnt].

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 29106, this pair ranks #1,772,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wen vs wund

Shared letters: nw. Private to "wen": e. Private to "wund": du.

"wen" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "wund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wunduwnd · wnud · wudn · wundd · wunnd · wwund

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wen" and "wund" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wen" is a pronoun and "wund" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "wen" or "wund" show up more?
"wen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,529 in our German list, against #27,577 for "wund". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wund" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,772,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wen" and "wund" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs wund". 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 #1,772,937 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