wildervswindeWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,783
“wilder” frequency rank
#13,741
“winde” frequency rank
24524
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wilder winde
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wild 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs winden

Where the eye mixes wilder and winde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wilder
5 ch
winde

Look-alike desk: wilder vs winde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wilder is [ˈvɪldɐ] while winde is [ˈvɪndə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24524, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wilder is recorded at frequency rank #10,783, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪldɐ]. 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 24524, this pair ranks #1,846,366 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wilder vs winde

Shared letters: deiw. Private to "wilder": lr. Private to "winde": n.

"wilder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "winde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wilderiwlder · widler · wildder · wilderr · wildre · wiledr · willder · wlider
  • windeiwnde · widne · windde · wined · winnde · wnide · wwinde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wilder" for "winde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wilder" is an adjective and "winde" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wilder" or "winde"?
"wilder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,783 in our German list, against #13,741 for "winde". 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 "wilder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "winde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,846,366 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wilder" and "winde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "winde vs wirre". 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 #1,846,366 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