WettevsWitzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,847
“Wette” frequency rank
#4,478
“Witze” frequency rank
9325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wette Witze
Definition eine zwischen zwei oder mehr Personen getroffene Verabredung, wonach bei Eintreten oder Nichteintreten eines Ereignisses oder bei Nachweis der Gültigkeit oder Nichtgültigkeit einer Behauptung ein vereinbarter Einsatz zwischen den Personen wechselt Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Witz

Where the eye mixes Wette and Witze

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

5 ch
Wette
5 ch
Witze

Why the eye confuses Wette with Witze

A purely visual mix-up. Wette ([ˈvɛtə]) and Witze ([ˈvɪt͡sə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wette is recorded at frequency rank #4,847, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛtə]. Witze is at rank #4,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪt͡sə].

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 9325, this pair ranks #1,980,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wette vs Witze

Shared letters: etw. Private to "Wette": -. Private to "Witze": iz.

"Wette" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Witze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wetteewtte · wete · wetet · wtete · wwette
  • Witzeiwtze · witez · wittze · witzze · wizte · wtize · wwitze

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wette" and "Witze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛtə] versus [ˈvɪt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Wette" or "Witze"?
"Witze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,478 in our German list, against #4,847 for "Wette". 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 "Wette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Witze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wette" and "Witze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waste vs Wette". 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 #1,980,504 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