Which to use
“witte” is a verb and “Witten” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,252
- “witte” frequency rank
- #18,440
- “Witten” frequency rank
- 44692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | witte | Witten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Kenntnis haben, sich über etwas Wahres sicher sein; wissen | Stadt im Ruhrgebiet |
Where the eye mixes witte and Witten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between witte and Witten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: witte is [ˈvɪtə] while Witten is [ˈvɪtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “witte” sits inside “Witten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
witte is recorded at frequency rank #26,252, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɪtə]. Witten is at rank #18,440, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈvɪtn̩].
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 44692, this pair ranks #1,377,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of witte vs Witten
Shared letters: eitw. Private to "witte": -. Private to "Witten": n.
"witte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Witten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "witte" for "Witten" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "witte" or "Witten" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "witte" and "Witten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "witte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Witten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,377,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "witte" and "Witten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waste vs witte". 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 #1,377,894 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.