währtvswaitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,876
“währt” frequency rank
#20,121
“wait” frequency rank
50997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature währt wait
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs währen warten, abwarten

Where the eye mixes währt and wait

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. währt runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against wait's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
währt
4 ch
wait

Why the eye confuses währt with wait

A purely visual mix-up. währt ([vɛːɐ̯t]) and wait ([weɪt]) 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 50997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

währt is recorded at frequency rank #30,876, classified as averb, pronounced [vɛːɐ̯t]. wait is at rank #20,121, tagged as averb, pronounced [weɪt].

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 50997, this pair ranks #1,152,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of währt vs wait

Shared letters: tw. Private to "währt": hrä. Private to "wait": ai.

"währt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "wait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wait ← awit · waitt · wati · wiat · wwait

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "währt" for "wait" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([vɛːɐ̯t] versus [weɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "währt" or "wait"?
"wait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,121 in our German list, against #30,876 for "währt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "währt" and "wait" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "währt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,152,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "währt" and "wait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "währt vs währte". 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 #1,152,416 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