Which to use
“Wunsch” is a noun and “wurscht” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,579
- “Wunsch” frequency rank
- #22,575
- “wurscht” frequency rank
- 24154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Wunsch | wurscht |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | das Ersehnen von etwas | ohne Belang, ohne Bedeutung, ohne Interesse aus der Sicht der sich äußernden Person |
Where the eye mixes Wunsch and wurscht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Wunsch runs 6 letters (CVCCCC) against wurscht's 7 (CVCCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Wunsch with wurscht
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wunsch is [vʊnʃ] while wurscht is [vʊʁʃt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 24154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Wunsch is recorded at frequency rank #1,579, classified as anoun, pronounced [vʊnʃ]. wurscht is at rank #22,575, tagged as anadj, pronounced [vʊʁʃt].
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 24154, this pair ranks #1,851,634 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Wunsch vs wurscht
Shared letters: chsuw. Private to "Wunsch": n. Private to "wurscht": rt.
"Wunsch" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC · "wurscht" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Wunsch" and "wurscht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Wunsch" vs "wurscht" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Wunsch" and "wurscht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Wunsch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wurscht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,851,634 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Wunsch" and "wurscht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wurscht vs wusch". 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 #1,851,634 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.