erwartenvserwartestWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,127
“erwarten” frequency rank
#16,136
“erwartest” frequency rank
17263
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erwarten erwartest
Definition auf jemanden oder etwas warten, dem Eintreffen von etwas entgegensehen; denken, dass etwas kommen oder passieren wird 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erwarten

Where the eye mixes erwarten and erwartest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erwarten runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against erwartest's 9 (VCCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
erwarten
9 ch
erwartest

Look-alike desk: erwarten vs erwartest

A purely visual mix-up. erwarten ([ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtn̩]) and erwartest ([ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtəst]) 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 17263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erwarten is recorded at frequency rank #1,127, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtn̩]. erwartest is at rank #16,136, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtəst].

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 17263, this pair ranks #1,928,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erwarten vs erwartest

Shared letters: aertw. Private to "erwarten": n. Private to "erwartest": s.

"erwarten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "erwartest" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erwarten ← erawrten · errwarten · erwaretn · erwarrten · erwartenn · erwartne · erwartten · erwatren
  • erwartest ← erawrtest · errwartest · erwaretst · erwarrtest · erwartesst · erwartestt · erwartets · erwartset

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "erwarten" and "erwartest" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtn̩] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtəst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erwarten" vs "erwartest" - which ranks higher?
"erwarten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,127 in our German list, against #16,136 for "erwartest". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erwarten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erwartest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,928,951 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erwarten" and "erwartest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhärtet vs erwartest". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,928,951 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