wagtenvsWortenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#33,900
“wagten” frequency rank
#2,226
“Worten” frequency rank
36126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wagten Worten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wagen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Wort

Where the eye mixes wagten and Worten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wagten
6 ch
Worten

Look-alike desk: wagten vs Worten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wagten is [ˈvaːktn̩] while Worten is [ˈvɔʁtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36126, 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]. Worten is at rank #2,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔʁtn̩].

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 36126, this pair ranks #1,623,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wagten vs Worten

Shared letters: entw. Private to "wagten": ag. Private to "Worten": or.

"wagten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Worten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wagtenawgten · wagetn · waggten · wagtenn · wagtne · wagtten · watgen · wgaten
  • Wortenowrten · woretn · worrten · wortenn · wortne · wortten · wotren · wroten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wagten" and "Worten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wagten" is a verb and "Worten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "wagten" or "Worten" show up more?
"Worten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,226 in our German list, against #33,900 for "wagten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "Worten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,623,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wagten" and "Worten" 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 #1,623,285 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