wagtevswaitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,464
“wagte” frequency rank
#20,121
“wait” frequency rank
37585
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wagte wait
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wagen warten, abwarten

Where the eye mixes wagte and wait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
wagte
4 ch
wait

Look-alike desk: wagte vs wait

A purely visual mix-up. wagte ([ˈvaːktə]) and wait ([weɪt]) 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 37585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wagte is recorded at frequency rank #17,464, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaːktə]. wait is at rank #20,121, tagged as averb, pronounced [weɪt].

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 37585, this pair ranks #1,586,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wagte vs wait

Shared letters: atw. Private to "wagte": eg. Private to "wait": i.

"wagte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wagteawgte · waget · waggte · wagtte · watge · wgate · wwagte
  • waitawit · waitt · wati · wiat · wwait

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wagte" and "wait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaːktə] versus [weɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wagte" vs "wait" - which ranks higher?
"wagte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,464 in our German list, against #20,121 for "wait". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "wagte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,586,335 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wagte" and "wait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wait 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 #1,586,335 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