wähltvswahreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wählt is a verb, wahre is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wählt” is a verb and “wahre” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,697
“wählt” frequency rank
#2,274
“wahre” frequency rank
5971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wählt wahre
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wählen Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs wahr

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wählt and wahre apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wählt
5 ch
wahre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wählt is [vɛːlt] while wahre is [ˈvaːʁə]. 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 5971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wählt is recorded at frequency rank #3,697, classified as averb, pronounced [vɛːlt]. wahre is at rank #2,274, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaːʁə].

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 5971, this pair ranks #1,993,116 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wählt vs wahre

Shared letters: hw. Private to "wählt": ltä. Private to "wahre": aer.

"wählt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "wahre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wahreawhre · waher · wahhre · wahrre · warhe · whare · wwahre

Frequency comparison

wählt#3,697
wahre#2,274

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wählt" and "wahre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wählt" is a verb and "wahre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wählt" or "wahre"?
"wahre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,274 in our German list, against #3,697 for "wählt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wählt vs wahre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wählt”; for an adjective, it's “wahre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wählt” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list