wühlenvsWundenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#30,397
“wühlen” frequency rank
#7,135
“Wunden” frequency rank
37532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wühlen Wunden
Definition meist mit technischen Hilfsmitteln im Erdboden graben Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Wunde

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wühlen and Wunden apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
wühlen
6 ch
Wunden

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wühlen is [ˈvyːlən] while Wunden is [ˈvʊndn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 37532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wühlen is recorded at frequency rank #30,397, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːlən]. Wunden is at rank #7,135, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvʊndn̩].

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 37532, this pair ranks #1,587,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wühlen vs Wunden

Shared letters: enw. Private to "wühlen": hlü. Private to "Wunden": du.

"wühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Wunden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wundenuwnden · wnuden · wudnen · wundden · wundenn · wundne · wunedn · wunnden

Frequency comparison

wühlen#30,397
Wunden#7,135

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wühlen" and "Wunden" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wühlen" is a verb and "Wunden" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wühlen" or "Wunden"?
"Wunden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,135 in our German list, against #30,397 for "wühlen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wühlen vs Wunden

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wühlen”; for a noun, it's “Wunden”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wühlen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list