wähltenvswarntenTell them apart

Which to use

“wählten” and “warnten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,468
“wählten” frequency rank
#47,846
“warnten” frequency rank
62314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wählten warnten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wählen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs warnen

Where the eye mixes wählten and warnten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. wählten and warnten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
wählten
7 ch
warnten

Look-alike desk: wählten vs warnten

A purely visual mix-up. wählten ([ˈvɛːltn̩]) and warnten ([ˈvaʁntn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62314, 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]. warnten is at rank #47,846, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁntn̩].

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 62314, this pair ranks #717,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wählten vs warnten

Shared letters: entw. Private to "wählten": hlä. Private to "warnten": ar.

"wählten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "warnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • warnten ← awrnten · wanrten · warnetn · warnnten · warntenn · warntne · warntten · warrnten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wählten" for "warnten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɛːltn̩] versus [ˈvaʁntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "wählten" vs "warnten" - which ranks higher?
"wählten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,468 in our German list, against #47,846 for "warnten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "warnten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #717,496 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wählten" and "warnten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "warnten vs Warstein". 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 #717,496 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list