WendevswütendeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Wende is a noun, wütende is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Wende” is a noun and “wütende” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,397
“Wende” frequency rank
#24,206
“wütende” frequency rank
28603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wende wütende
Definition einschneidende Veränderung, Umbruch Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wütend

Where the eye mixes Wende and wütende

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

5 ch
Wende
7 ch
wütende

Visual trap between Wende and wütende

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wende is [ˈvɛndə] while wütende is [ˈvyːtn̩də]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28603, 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]. wütende is at rank #24,206, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvyːtn̩də].

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 28603, this pair ranks #1,781,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wende vs wütende

Shared letters: denw. Private to "Wende": -. Private to "wütende": tü.

"Wende" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wütende" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wende ← ewnde · wedne · wendde · wened · wennde · wnede · wwende

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wende" and "wütende" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wende" is a noun and "wütende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Wende" or "wütende" show up more?
"Wende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,397 in our German list, against #24,206 for "wütende". 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 "Wende" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wütende" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,781,827 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wende" and "wütende" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wütende vs wütete". 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 #1,781,827 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