widervswindeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wider is a preposition, winde is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wider” is a preposition and “winde” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,132
“wider” frequency rank
#13,741
“winde” frequency rank
18873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wider winde
Definition drückt einen Gegensatz aus 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs winden

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wider and winde apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wider
5 ch
winde

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

wider and winde form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wider is recorded at frequency rank #5,132, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈviːdɐ]. winde is at rank #13,741, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪndə].

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 18873, this pair ranks #1,914,023 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

wider#5,132
winde#13,741

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wider" and "winde" be used interchangeably?
No, "wider" and "winde" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering wider vs winde

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “wider”; for a verb, it's “winde”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wider” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list