gewähltenvsgewolltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,542
“gewählten” frequency rank
#47,449
“gewollten” frequency rank
53991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewählten gewollten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewählt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewollt

Where the eye mixes gewählten and gewollten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gewählten and gewollten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
gewählten
9 ch
gewollten

Visual trap between gewählten and gewollten

A purely visual mix-up. gewählten ([ɡəˈvɛːltn̩]) and gewollten ([ɡəˈvɔltn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewählten is recorded at frequency rank #6,542, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛːltn̩]. gewollten is at rank #47,449, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɔltn̩].

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 53991, this pair ranks #1,036,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gewählten vs gewollten

Shared letters: eglntw. Private to "gewählten": hä. Private to "gewollten": o.

"gewählten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gewollten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewollten ← egwollten · geowllten · gewlolten · gewolletn · gewolltenn · gewolltne · gewolltten · gewolten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gewählten" and "gewollten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvɛːltn̩] versus [ɡəˈvɔltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gewählten" or "gewollten" show up more?
"gewählten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,542 in our German list, against #47,449 for "gewollten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gewählten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewollten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,036,311 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewählten" and "gewollten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geballten vs gewollten". 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 #1,036,311 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