wagtvswentWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,398
“wagt” frequency rank
#48,632
“went” frequency rank
59030
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wagt went
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wagen Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs go

Where the eye mixes wagt and went

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. wagt and went follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
wagt
4 ch
went

Look-alike desk: wagt vs went

A purely visual mix-up. wagt ([vaːkt]) and went ([went]) 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 59030, 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]. went is at rank #48,632, tagged as averb, pronounced [went].

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 59030, this pair ranks #840,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wagt vs went

Shared letters: tw. Private to "wagt": ag. Private to "went": en.

"wagt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wagt ← awgt · waggt · wagtt · watg · wgat · wwagt
  • went ← ewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wagt" for "went" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vaːkt] versus [went]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wagt" or "went"?
"wagt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,398 in our German list, against #48,632 for "went". 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 "wagt" and "went" 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 "went" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #840,002 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wagt" and "went" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wants vs went". 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 #840,002 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