Which to use
“wagten” and “wählen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,900
- “wagten” frequency rank
- #984
- “wählen” frequency rank
- 34884
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wagten | wählen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wagen | sich für eine von mehreren Möglichkeiten entscheiden |
Where the eye mixes wagten and wählen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wagten and wählen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wagten vs wählen
A purely visual mix-up. wagten ([ˈvaːktn̩]) and wählen ([ˈvɛːlən]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wagten is recorded at frequency rank #33,900, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaːktn̩]. wählen is at rank #984, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːlən].
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 34884, this pair ranks #1,653,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wagten vs wählen
Shared letters: enw. Private to "wagten": agt. Private to "wählen": hlä.
"wagten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wählen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wagten ← awgten · wagetn · waggten · wagtenn · wagtne · wagtten · watgen · wgaten
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wagten" and "wählen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wagten" or "wählen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "wagten" and "wählen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wagten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wählen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,653,074 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wagten" and "wählen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wagten 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 #1,653,074 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.