windenvsWinkelWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: winden is a verb, Winkel is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“winden” is a verb and “Winkel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,377
“winden” frequency rank
#5,048
“Winkel” frequency rank
28425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature winden Winkel
Definition etwas drehen, wickeln Stellung zweier Linien oder Flächen zueinander

Where the eye mixes winden and Winkel

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

6 ch
winden
6 ch
Winkel

Visual trap between winden and Winkel

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: winden is [ˈvɪndn̩] while Winkel is [ˈvɪŋkl̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

winden is recorded at frequency rank #23,377, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪndn̩]. Winkel is at rank #5,048, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪŋkl̩].

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 28425, this pair ranks #1,784,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of winden vs Winkel

Shared letters: einw. Private to "winden": d. Private to "Winkel": kl.

"winden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Winkel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • windeniwnden · widnen · windden · windenn · windne · winedn · winnden · wniden
  • Winkeliwnkel · wiknel · winekl · winkell · winkkel · winkle · winnkel · wnikel

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "winden" and "Winkel" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "winden" is a verb and "Winkel" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "winden" or "Winkel" show up more?
"Winkel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,048 in our German list, against #23,377 for "winden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "winden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Winkel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,784,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "winden" and "Winkel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "winden vs Winsen". 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 #1,784,997 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