Which to use
“wühlen” and “wurden” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,397
- “wühlen” frequency rank
- #149
- “wurden” frequency rank
- 30546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wühlen | wurden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | meist mit technischen Hilfsmitteln im Erdboden graben | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs werden |
Where the eye mixes wühlen and wurden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wühlen and wurden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wühlen vs wurden
A purely visual mix-up. wühlen ([ˈvyːlən]) and wurden ([ˈvʊʁdn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30546, 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]. wurden is at rank #149, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvʊʁdn̩].
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 30546, this pair ranks #1,745,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wühlen vs wurden
Shared letters: enw. Private to "wühlen": hlü. Private to "wurden": dru.
"wühlen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wurden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wurden ← uwrden · wruden · wudren · wurdden · wurdenn · wurdne · wuredn · wurrden
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wühlen" for "wurden" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wühlen" vs "wurden" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wühlen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wurden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,745,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wühlen" and "wurden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilen vs wühlen". 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 #1,745,715 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.