Which to use
“wählten” and “währen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,468
- “wählten” frequency rank
- #34,465
- “währen” frequency rank
- 48933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wählten | währen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wählen | sich über eine Zeitspanne erstrecken |
Where the eye mixes wählten and währen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wählten runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against währen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between wählten and währen
A purely visual mix-up. wählten ([ˈvɛːltn̩]) and währen ([ˈvɛːʁən]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wählten is recorded at frequency rank #14,468, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːltn̩]. währen is at rank #34,465, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːʁən].
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 48933, this pair ranks #1,230,199 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of wählten vs währen
Shared letters: ehnwä. Private to "wählten": lt. Private to "währen": r.
"wählten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "währen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wählten" and "währen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wählten" or "währen" 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 "wählten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "währen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,230,199 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wählten" and "währen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "währen vs Warzen". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,230,199 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.