wurdevswurdenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#76
“wurde” frequency rank
#149
“wurden” frequency rank
225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wurde wurden
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs werden 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs werden

Where the eye mixes wurde and wurden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wurde
6 ch
wurden

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wurde ([ˈvʊʁdə]) and wurden ([ˈvʊʁdn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wurde” sits inside “wurden”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wurde is recorded at frequency rank #76, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvʊʁdə]. wurden is at rank #149, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvʊʁdn̩].

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 225, this pair ranks #2,006,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wurde vs wurden

Shared letters: deruw. Private to "wurde": -. Private to "wurden": n.

"wurde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wurden" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wurdeuwrde · wrude · wudre · wurdde · wured · wurrde · wwurde
  • wurdenuwrden · wruden · wudren · wurdden · wurdenn · wurdne · wuredn · wurrden

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wurde" and "wurden" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvʊʁdə] versus [ˈvʊʁdn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wurde" or "wurden"?
"wurde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #76 in our German list, against #149 for "wurden". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "wurde" and "wurden". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wurde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wurden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,006,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wurde" and "wurden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wurden vs Würmern". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list