wünschtevswurschtWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wünschte is a verb, wurscht is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wünschte” is a verb and “wurscht” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,013
“wünschte” frequency rank
#22,575
“wurscht” frequency rank
26588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wünschte wurscht
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wünschen ohne Belang, ohne Bedeutung, ohne Interesse aus der Sicht der sich äußernden Person

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wünschte and wurscht apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
wünschte
7 ch
wurscht

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wünschte is [ˈvʏnʃtə] 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wünschte is recorded at frequency rank #4,013, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvʏnʃtə]. 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 26588, this pair ranks #1,815,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wünschte vs wurscht

Shared letters: chstw. Private to "wünschte": enü. Private to "wurscht": ru.

"wünschte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCCV  ·  "wurscht" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wurschtuwrscht · wruscht · wurcsht · wurrscht · wursccht · wurschht · wurschtt · wurscth

Frequency comparison

wünschte#4,013
wurscht#22,575

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wünschte" and "wurscht" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wünschte" is a verb and "wurscht" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wünschte" or "wurscht"?
"wünschte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,013 in our German list, against #22,575 for "wurscht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wünschte vs wurscht

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wünschte”; for an adjective, it's “wurscht”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wünschte” 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