wütenvswüteteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,274
“wüten” frequency rank
#45,055
“wütete” frequency rank
87329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wüten wütete
Definition kraftvoll agierend und oft ungerichtet Zerstörungen anrichten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wüten

Where the eye mixes wüten and wütete

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

5 ch
wüten
6 ch
wütete

Visual trap between wüten and wütete

A purely visual mix-up. wüten ([ˈvyːtn̩]) and wütete ([ˈvyːtətə]) 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 87329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wüten is recorded at frequency rank #42,274, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːtn̩]. wütete is at rank #45,055, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvyːtətə].

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 87329, this pair ranks #81,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wüten vs wütete

Shared letters: etwü. Private to "wüten": n. Private to "wütete": -.

"wüten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "wütete" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wüten" and "wütete" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvyːtn̩] versus [ˈvyːtətə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wüten" or "wütete" show up more?
"wüten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,274 in our German list, against #45,055 for "wütete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wüten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wütete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wüten" and "wütete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wotan vs wüten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #81,771 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