waltenvswarntenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,786
“walten” frequency rank
#47,846
“warnten” frequency rank
68632
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature walten warnten
Definition eine bestimmende oder herrschende Funktion erfüllen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs warnen

Where the eye mixes walten and warnten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. walten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against warnten's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
walten
7 ch
warnten

Why the eye confuses walten with warnten

A purely visual mix-up. walten ([ˈvaltn̩]) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68632, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

walten is recorded at frequency rank #20,786, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaltn̩]. 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 68632, this pair ranks #501,742 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of walten vs warnten

Shared letters: aentw. Private to "walten": l. Private to "warnten": r.

"walten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "warnten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • walten ← awlten · waletn · wallten · waltenn · waltne · waltten · watlen · wlaten
  • warnten ← awrnten · wanrten · warnetn · warnnten · warntenn · warntne · warntten · warrnten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "walten" and "warnten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaltn̩] versus [ˈvaʁntn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "walten" vs "warnten" - which ranks higher?
"walten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,786 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.

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 "walten" 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 #501,742 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "walten" 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 #501,742 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