WonnevsWundeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Wonne” and “Wunde” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,959
“Wonne” frequency rank
#7,852
“Wunde” frequency rank
50811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wonne Wunde
Definition etwas, was einem gut tut; sehr großes Glücksgefühl offene Verletzung in der Haut oder im tieferliegenden Gewebe

Where the eye mixes Wonne and Wunde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Wonne and Wunde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Wonne
5 ch
Wunde

Why the eye confuses Wonne with Wunde

A purely visual mix-up. Wonne ([ˈvɔnə]) and Wunde ([ˈvʊndə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wonne is recorded at frequency rank #42,959, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔnə]. Wunde is at rank #7,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvʊndə].

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 50811, this pair ranks #1,159,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Wonne vs Wunde

Shared letters: enw. Private to "Wonne": o. Private to "Wunde": du.

"Wonne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Wunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wonne ← ownne · wnone · wone · wonen · wwonne
  • Wunde ← uwnde · wnude · wudne · wundde · wuned · wunnde · wwunde

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wonne" and "Wunde" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɔnə] versus [ˈvʊndə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Wonne" vs "Wunde" - which ranks higher?
"Wunde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,852 in our German list, against #42,959 for "Wonne". 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 "Wonne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Wunde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,159,537 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wonne" and "Wunde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Werne vs Wonne". 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 #1,159,537 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