wundvswüstWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,577
“wund” frequency rank
#28,028
“wüst” frequency rank
55605
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wund wüst
Definition an der Haut aufgeschürft weder besiedelt noch landwirtschaftlich genutzt (und zumeist auch nicht nutzbar)

Where the eye mixes wund and wüst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. wund and wüst follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
wund
4 ch
wüst

Look-alike desk: wund vs wüst

A purely visual mix-up. wund ([vʊnt]) and wüst ([vyːst]) 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 55605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wund is recorded at frequency rank #27,577, classified as anadj, pronounced [vʊnt]. wüst is at rank #28,028, tagged as anadj, pronounced [vyːst].

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 55605, this pair ranks #973,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wund vs wüst

Shared letters: w. Private to "wund": dnu. Private to "wüst": stü.

"wund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wüst" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wund ← uwnd · wnud · wudn · wundd · wunnd · wwund

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wund" for "wüst" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vʊnt] versus [vyːst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wund" vs "wüst" - which ranks higher?
"wund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,577 in our German list, against #28,028 for "wüst". 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 "wund" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wüst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #973,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wund" and "wüst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waste vs wüst". 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 #973,114 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