Which to use
“wacht” and “warst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,011
- “wacht” frequency rank
- #3,092
- “warst” frequency rank
- 13103
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wacht | warst |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wachen | 2. Person Singular Präteritum Indikativ des Verbs sein |
Where the eye mixes wacht and warst
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wacht and warst follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wacht and warst
A purely visual mix-up. wacht ([vaxt]) and warst ([vaːɐ̯st]) 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 13103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wacht is recorded at frequency rank #10,011, classified as averb, pronounced [vaxt]. warst is at rank #3,092, tagged as averb, pronounced [vaːɐ̯st].
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 13103, this pair ranks #1,960,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wacht vs warst
Shared letters: atw. Private to "wacht": ch. Private to "warst": rs.
"wacht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "warst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wacht" for "warst" ever safe?
Which is more common, "wacht" or "warst"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wacht" and "warst" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wacht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "warst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,960,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wacht" and "warst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wachau vs wacht". 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 #1,960,106 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.