WitzevswitzigeTell them apart

Quick tell: Witze is a noun, witzige is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,478
“Witze” frequency rank
#14,210
“witzige” frequency rank
18688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Witze witzige
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Witz Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs witzig

Where the eye mixes Witze and witzige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Witze
7 ch
witzige

Look-alike desk: Witze vs witzige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Witze is [ˈvɪt͡sə] while witzige is [ˈvɪt͡sɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Witze is recorded at frequency rank #4,478, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɪt͡sə]. witzige is at rank #14,210, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvɪt͡sɪɡə].

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 18688, this pair ranks #1,915,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Witze vs witzige

Shared letters: eitwz. Private to "Witze": -. Private to "witzige": g.

"Witze" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "witzige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Witzeiwtze · witez · wittze · witzze · wizte · wtize · wwitze
  • witzigeiwtzige · witizge · wittzige · witzgie · witzieg · witzigge · witzzige · wiztige

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Witze" and "witzige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Witze" is a noun and "witzige" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Witze" or "witzige" show up more?
"Witze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,478 in our German list, against #14,210 for "witzige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Witze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "witzige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,915,853 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Witze" and "witzige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "winziger vs witzige". 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 #1,915,853 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