wildevsWundeConfusable pair

Quick tell: wilde is a adjective, Wunde is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,668
“wilde” frequency rank
#7,852
“Wunde” frequency rank
12520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wilde Wunde
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wild offene Verletzung in der Haut oder im tieferliegenden Gewebe

Where the eye mixes wilde and Wunde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wilde and Wunde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
wilde
5 ch
Wunde

Visual trap between wilde and Wunde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wilde is [ˈvɪldə] while Wunde is [ˈvʊndə]. 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 12520, 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]. Wunde is at rank #7,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvʊndə].

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 12520, this pair ranks #1,963,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wilde vs Wunde

Shared letters: dew. Private to "wilde": il. Private to "Wunde": nu.

"wilde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Wunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wilde ← iwlde · widle · wildde · wiled · willde · wlide · wwilde
  • Wunde ← uwnde · wnude · wudne · wundde · wuned · wunnde · wwunde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wilde" and "Wunde" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wilde" is an adjective and "Wunde" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "wilde" or "Wunde" show up more?
"wilde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,668 in our German list, against #7,852 for "Wunde". 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 "wilde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wunde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,963,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wilde" and "Wunde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wunde vs wurdet". 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 #1,963,687 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