wandertevswandteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,433
“wanderte” frequency rank
#7,131
“wandte” frequency rank
25564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wanderte wandte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wandern 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wenden

Where the eye mixes wanderte and wandte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
wanderte
6 ch
wandte

Visual trap between wanderte and wandte

A purely visual mix-up. wanderte ([ˈvandɐtə]) and wandte ([ˈvantə]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wanderte is recorded at frequency rank #18,433, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvandɐtə]. wandte is at rank #7,131, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvantə].

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 25564, this pair ranks #1,831,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wanderte vs wandte

Shared letters: adentw. Private to "wanderte": r. Private to "wandte": -.

"wanderte" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "wandte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wanderteawnderte · wadnerte · wandderte · wanderet · wanderrte · wandertte · wandetre · wandrete
  • wandteawndte · wadnte · wanddte · wandet · wandtte · wanndte · wantde · wnadte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wanderte" and "wandte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvandɐtə] versus [ˈvantə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wanderte" or "wandte" show up more?
"wandte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,131 in our German list, against #18,433 for "wanderte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wanderte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wandte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,831,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wanderte" and "wandte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wandte vs waste". 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 #1,831,352 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