würzenvswütenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,878
“würzen” frequency rank
#42,274
“wüten” frequency rank
72152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature würzen wüten
Definition den Geschmack von Speisen mit Hilfe verschiedenster Zutaten, zum Beispiel Kräutern, Salz, Pfeffer und Ähnlichem beeinflussen kraftvoll agierend und oft ungerichtet Zerstörungen anrichten

Where the eye mixes würzen and wüten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. würzen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against wüten's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
würzen
5 ch
wüten

Visual trap between würzen and wüten

A purely visual mix-up. würzen ([ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩]) and wüten ([ˈvyːtn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

würzen is recorded at frequency rank #29,878, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩]. wüten is at rank #42,274, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːtn̩].

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 72152, this pair ranks #396,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of würzen vs wüten

Shared letters: enwü. Private to "würzen": rz. Private to "wüten": t.

"würzen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wüten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "würzen" for "wüten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvʏʁt͡sn̩] versus [ˈvyːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "würzen" or "wüten" show up more?
"würzen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,878 in our German list, against #42,274 for "wüten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "würzen" and "wüten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "würzen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wüten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "würzen" and "wüten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wotan vs wüten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #396,335 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