windenvsWinterWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#23,377
“winden” frequency rank
#1,249
“Winter” frequency rank
24626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature winden Winter
Definition etwas drehen, wickeln Jahreszeit nach dem Herbst und vor dem Frühling, auf der nördlichen Halbkugel Zeit von Dezember bis März

Where the eye mixes winden and Winter

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

6 ch
winden
6 ch
Winter

Visual trap between winden and Winter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: winden is [ˈvɪndn̩] while Winter is [ˈvɪntɐ]. 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 24626, 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]. Winter is at rank #1,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪntɐ].

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 24626, this pair ranks #1,844,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of winden vs Winter

Shared letters: einw. Private to "winden": d. Private to "Winter": rt.

"winden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Winter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • windeniwnden · widnen · windden · windenn · windne · winedn · winnden · wniden
  • Winteriwnter · winetr · winnter · winterr · wintre · wintter · witner · wniter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "winden" and "Winter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "winden" is a verb and "Winter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "winden" or "Winter"?
"Winter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,249 in our German list, against #23,377 for "winden". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "winden" and "Winter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "winden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Winter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,844,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "winden" and "Winter" 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 #1,844,965 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