wütendevswüteteWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#24,206
“wütende” frequency rank
#45,055
“wütete” frequency rank
69261
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wütende wütete
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wütend 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wüten

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wütende and wütete apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
wütende
6 ch
wütete

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wütende is [ˈvyːtn̩də] while wütete is [ˈvyːtətə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wütende is recorded at frequency rank #24,206, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvyːtn̩də]. 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 69261, this pair ranks #482,006 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wütende vs wütete

Shared letters: etwü. Private to "wütende": dn. Private to "wütete": -.

"wütende" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "wütete" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequency comparison

wütende#24,206
wütete#45,055

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wütende" and "wütete" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wütende" is an adjective and "wütete" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wütende" or "wütete"?
"wütende" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,206 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.

Remembering wütende vs wütete

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “wütende”; for a verb, it's “wütete”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wütende” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list