wähltevswahreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,490
“wählte” frequency rank
#2,274
“wahre” frequency rank
10764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wählte wahre
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum 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 wählte and wahre apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
wählte
5 ch
wahre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wählte is [ˈvɛːltə] while wahre is [ˈvaːʁə]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wählte is recorded at frequency rank #8,490, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːltə]. 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 10764, this pair ranks #1,973,433 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wählte vs wahre

Shared letters: ehw. Private to "wählte": ltä. Private to "wahre": ar.

"wählte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wahre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequency comparison

wählte#8,490
wahre#2,274

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wählte" and "wahre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wählte" is a verb and "wahre" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wählte" or "wahre"?
"wahre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,274 in our German list, against #8,490 for "wählte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wählte vs wahre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “wählte”; for an adjective, it's “wahre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wählte” 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