WendevsWindWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,397
“Wende” frequency rank
#1,752
“Wind” frequency rank
6149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wende Wind
Definition einschneidende Veränderung, Umbruch eine gerichtete Luftbewegung in der Atmosphäre

Where the eye mixes Wende and Wind

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Wende
4 ch
Wind

Visual trap between Wende and Wind

A purely visual mix-up. Wende ([ˈvɛndə]) and Wind ([vɪnt]) 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 6149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wende is recorded at frequency rank #4,397, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛndə]. Wind is at rank #1,752, tagged as anoun, pronounced [vɪnt].

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 6149, this pair ranks #1,992,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wende vs Wind

Shared letters: dnw. Private to "Wende": e. Private to "Wind": i.

"Wende" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Wind" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wendeewnde · wedne · wendde · wened · wennde · wnede · wwende
  • Windiwnd · widn · windd · winnd · wnid · wwind

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Wende" and "Wind" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛndə] versus [vɪnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Wende" or "Wind" show up more?
"Wind" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,752 in our German list, against #4,397 for "Wende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wind" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wende" and "Wind" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wende vs went". 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 #1,992,556 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