wagtvswaltzWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: wagt is a verb, waltz is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wagt” is a verb and “waltz” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,398
“wagt” frequency rank
#35,544
“waltz” frequency rank
45942
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wagt waltz
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wagen langsamer Gesellschaftstanz im Dreivierteltakt; English Waltz, langsamer Walzer

Where the eye mixes wagt and waltz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wagt runs 4 letters (CVCC) against waltz's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
wagt
5 ch
waltz

Look-alike desk: wagt vs waltz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wagt is [vaːkt] while waltz is [valt͡s]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wagt is recorded at frequency rank #10,398, classified as averb, pronounced [vaːkt]. waltz is at rank #35,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced [valt͡s].

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 45942, this pair ranks #1,335,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wagt vs waltz

Shared letters: atw. Private to "wagt": g. Private to "waltz": lz.

"wagt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "waltz" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wagt ← awgt · waggt · wagtt · watg · wgat · wwagt
  • waltz ← awltz · walltz · walttz · waltzz · walzt · watlz · wlatz · wwaltz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wagt" and "waltz" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wagt" is a verb and "waltz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "wagt" vs "waltz" - which ranks higher?
"wagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,398 in our German list, against #35,544 for "waltz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wagt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "waltz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,335,933 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wagt" and "waltz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waltz vs waste". 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 #1,335,933 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