wurdevsWurzelWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wurde is a verb, Wurzel is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wurde” is a verb and “Wurzel” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#76
“wurde” frequency rank
#11,155
“Wurzel” frequency rank
11231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wurde Wurzel
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs werden Organ, mit dem sich Pflanzen auf oder im Untergrund verankern und Nährstoffe aufnehmen

Where the eye mixes wurde and Wurzel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wurde
6 ch
Wurzel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wurde is [ˈvʊʁdə] while Wurzel is [ˈvʊʁt͡sl̩]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wurde is recorded at frequency rank #76, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvʊʁdə]. Wurzel is at rank #11,155, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvʊʁt͡sl̩].

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 11231, this pair ranks #1,970,962 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wurde vs Wurzel

Shared letters: eruw. Private to "wurde": d. Private to "Wurzel": lz.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wurdeuwrde · wrude · wudre · wurdde · wured · wurrde · wwurde
  • Wurzeluwrzel · wruzel · wurezl · wurrzel · wurzell · wurzle · wurzzel · wuzrel

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wurde" and "Wurzel" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wurde" is a verb and "Wurzel" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wurde" or "Wurzel"?
"wurde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #76 in our German list, against #11,155 for "Wurzel". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list