Which to use
“wählten” and “wollten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,468
- “wählten” frequency rank
- #1,048
- “wollten” frequency rank
- 15516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wählten | wollten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wählen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wollen |
Where the eye mixes wählten and wollten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wählten and wollten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wählten and wollten
A purely visual mix-up. wählten ([ˈvɛːltn̩]) and wollten ([ˈvɔltn̩]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15516, 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]. wollten is at rank #1,048, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔltn̩].
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 15516, this pair ranks #1,943,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wählten vs wollten
Shared letters: elntw. Private to "wählten": hä. Private to "wollten": o.
"wählten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "wollten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wollten ← owllten · wlolten · wolletn · wolltenn · wolltne · wolltten · wolten · woltlen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wählten" for "wollten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wählten" vs "wollten" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wählten" and "wollten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wählten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wollten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,943,254 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wählten" and "wollten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wählten vs warnten". 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 #1,943,254 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.