würdigevswürdigenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: würdige is a adjective, würdigen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#32,374
“würdige” frequency rank
#12,637
“würdigen” frequency rank
45011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature würdige würdigen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs würdig jemandes Leistung anerkennen, jemanden öffentlich wertschätzen und loben

Where the eye mixes würdige and würdigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. würdige runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against würdigen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
würdige
8 ch
würdigen

Look-alike desk: würdige vs würdigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: würdige is [ˈvʏʁdɪɡə] while würdigen is [ˈvʏʁdɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “würdige” sits inside “würdigen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

würdige is recorded at frequency rank #32,374, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvʏʁdɪɡə]. würdigen is at rank #12,637, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvʏʁdɪɡn̩].

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 45011, this pair ranks #1,367,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of würdige vs würdigen

Shared letters: degirwü. Private to "würdige": -. Private to "würdigen": n.

"würdige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "würdigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "würdige" and "würdigen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "würdige" is an adjective and "würdigen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "würdige" or "würdigen" show up more?
"würdigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,637 in our German list, against #32,374 for "würdige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "würdige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "würdigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,367,408 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "würdige" and "würdigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "würdige vs würzig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,367,408 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list