Which to use
“wählte” and “währte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,490
- “wählte” frequency rank
- #39,738
- “währte” frequency rank
- 48228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wählte | währte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wählen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs währen |
Where the eye mixes wählte and währte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wählte and währte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wählte and währte
A purely visual mix-up. wählte ([ˈvɛːltə]) and währte ([ˈvɛːɐ̯tə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “wählte” becomes r in “währte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48228, 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]. währte is at rank #39,738, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːɐ̯tə].
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 48228, this pair ranks #1,256,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wählte vs währte
Shared letters: ehtwä. Private to "wählte": l. Private to "währte": r.
"wählte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "währte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wählte" and "währte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wählte" or "währte" show up more?
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 "wählte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "währte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,256,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wählte" and "währte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "währte vs waste". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,256,181 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.