wagtenvswogenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,900
“wagten” frequency rank
#25,403
“wogen” frequency rank
59303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wagten wogen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wagen große Wellen machen

Where the eye mixes wagten and wogen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wagten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against wogen's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
wagten
5 ch
wogen

Look-alike desk: wagten vs wogen

A purely visual mix-up. wagten ([ˈvaːktn̩]) and wogen ([ˈvoːɡn̩]) 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 59303, 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]. wogen is at rank #25,403, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvoːɡn̩].

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 59303, this pair ranks #829,567 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wagten vs wogen

Shared letters: egnw. Private to "wagten": at. Private to "wogen": o.

"wagten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wogen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wagten ← awgten · wagetn · waggten · wagtenn · wagtne · wagtten · watgen · wgaten
  • wogen ← owgen · wgoen · woegn · wogenn · woggen · wogne · wwogen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wagten" and "wogen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaːktn̩] versus [ˈvoːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wagten" vs "wogen" - which ranks higher?
"wogen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,403 in our German list, against #33,900 for "wagten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wagten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wogen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #829,567 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wagten" and "wogen" 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 #829,567 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