Which to use
“Wahl” is a noun and “war” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #561
- “Wahl” frequency rank
- #39
- “war” frequency rank
- 600
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Wahl | war |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entscheidung zwischen zwei oder mehreren Möglichkeiten | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum des Verbs sein |
Where the eye mixes Wahl and war
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Wahl with war
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wahl is [vaːl] while war is [vaːɐ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Wahl is recorded at frequency rank #561, classified as anoun, pronounced [vaːl]. war is at rank #39, tagged as averb, pronounced [vaːɐ̯].
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 600, this pair ranks #2,005,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Wahl vs war
Shared letters: aw. Private to "Wahl": hl. Private to "war": r.
"Wahl" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "war" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Wahl ← awhl · wahhl · wahll · walh · whal · wwahl
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Wahl" and "war" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Wahl" or "war"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Wahl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "war" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,005,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Wahl" and "war" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wahl vs Wiehl". 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 #2,005,635 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.