Which to use
“wählen” is a verb and “wahres” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #984
- “wählen” frequency rank
- #9,121
- “wahres” frequency rank
- 10105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wählen | wahres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich für eine von mehreren Möglichkeiten entscheiden | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs wahr |
Where the eye mixes wählen and wahres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. wählen and wahres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wählen and wahres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wählen is [ˈvɛːlən] while wahres is [ˈvaːʁəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wählen is recorded at frequency rank #984, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːlən]. wahres is at rank #9,121, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaːʁəs].
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 10105, this pair ranks #1,976,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wählen vs wahres
Shared letters: ehw. Private to "wählen": lnä. Private to "wahres": ars.
"wählen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wahres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wahres ← awhres · wahers · wahhres · wahress · wahrres · wahrse · warhes · whares
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "wählen" and "wahres" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "wählen" or "wahres" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wählen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wahres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,976,771 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wählen" and "wahres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wahres vs wirres". 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 #1,976,771 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.