währtvswarbTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,876
“währt” frequency rank
#23,784
“warb” frequency rank
54660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature währt warb
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs währen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs werben

Where the eye mixes währt and warb

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

5 ch
währt
4 ch
warb

Look-alike desk: währt vs warb

A purely visual mix-up. währt ([vɛːɐ̯t]) and warb ([vaʁp]) 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 54660, 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]. warb is at rank #23,784, tagged as averb, pronounced [vaʁp].

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 54660, this pair ranks #1,010,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of währt vs warb

Shared letters: rw. Private to "währt": htä. Private to "warb": ab.

"währt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "warb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • warb ← awrb · wabr · warbb · warrb · wrab · wwarb

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "währt" and "warb" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([vɛːɐ̯t] versus [vaʁp]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "währt" or "warb"?
"warb" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,784 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.

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 "währt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "warb" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,010,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "währt" and "warb" 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 #1,010,130 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