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 eye mixes wünschte and wurscht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wünschte runs 8 letters (CVCCCCCV) against wurscht's 7 (CVCCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wünschte and wurscht
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
- wurscht ← uwrscht · wruscht · wurcsht · wurrscht · wursccht · wurschht · wurschtt · wurscth
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wünschte" for "wurscht" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wünschte" or "wurscht"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wünschte" 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 #1,815,743 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wünschte" 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 #1,815,743 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.