währtevsWärterWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: währte is a verb, Wärter is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“währte” is a verb and “Wärter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,738
“währte” frequency rank
#33,922
“Wärter” frequency rank
73660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature währte Wärter
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs währen Person, die etwas beaufsichtigt oder bewacht

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set währte and Wärter apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
währte
6 ch
Wärter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: währte is [ˈvɛːɐ̯tə] while Wärter is [ˈvɛʁtɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

währte is recorded at frequency rank #39,738, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɛːɐ̯tə]. Wärter is at rank #33,922, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛʁtɐ].

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 73660, this pair ranks #354,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of währte vs Wärter

Shared letters: ertwä. Private to "währte": h. Private to "Wärter": -.

"währte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "Wärter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

währte#39,738
Wärter#33,922

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "währte" and "Wärter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "währte" is a verb and "Wärter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "währte" or "Wärter"?
"Wärter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,922 in our German list, against #39,738 for "währte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering währte vs Wärter

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “währte”; for a noun, it's “Wärter”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “währte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list