Which to use
“wilde” is an adjective and “Wölfe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,668
- “wilde” frequency rank
- #8,491
- “Wölfe” frequency rank
- 13159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wilde | Wölfe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wild | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Wolf |
Where the eye mixes wilde and Wölfe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wilde and Wölfe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wilde and Wölfe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wilde is [ˈvɪldə] while Wölfe is [ˈvœlfə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wilde is recorded at frequency rank #4,668, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪldə]. Wölfe is at rank #8,491, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvœlfə].
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 13159, this pair ranks #1,959,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wilde vs Wölfe
Shared letters: elw. Private to "wilde": di. Private to "Wölfe": fö.
"wilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Wölfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- wilde ← iwlde · widle · wildde · wiled · willde · wlide · wwilde
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wilde" for "Wölfe" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "wilde" or "Wölfe" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Wölfe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,959,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wilde" and "Wölfe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "welke vs Wölfe". 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 #1,959,749 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.