WundevswütendeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,852
“Wunde” frequency rank
#24,206
“wütende” frequency rank
32058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wunde wütende
Definition offene Verletzung in der Haut oder im tieferliegenden Gewebe Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wütend

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Wunde and wütende apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Wunde
7 ch
wütende

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wunde is [ˈvʊndə] while wütende is [ˈvyːtn̩də]. 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 32058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wunde is recorded at frequency rank #7,852, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvʊndə]. wütende is at rank #24,206, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvyːtn̩də].

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 32058, this pair ranks #1,715,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Wunde vs wütende

Shared letters: denw. Private to "Wunde": u. Private to "wütende": .

"Wunde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wütende" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Wundeuwnde · wnude · wudne · wundde · wuned · wunnde · wwunde

Frequency comparison

Wunde#7,852
wütende#24,206

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Wunde" and "wütende" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wunde" is a noun and "wütende" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Wunde" or "wütende"?
"Wunde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,852 in our German list, against #24,206 for "wütende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Wunde vs wütende

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Wunde”; for an adjective, it's “wütende”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Wunde” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list