warenvswarntConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#115
“waren” frequency rank
#5,044
“warnt” frequency rank
5159
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature waren warnt
Definition 1. Person Plural Präteritum Indikativ Aktiv des Verbs sein 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warnen

Where the eye mixes waren and warnt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
waren
5 ch
warnt

Visual trap between waren and warnt

A purely visual mix-up. waren ([ˈvaːʁən]) and warnt ([vaʁnt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

waren is recorded at frequency rank #115, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaːʁən]. warnt is at rank #5,044, tagged as averb, pronounced [vaʁnt].

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 5159, this pair ranks #1,995,627 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of waren vs warnt

Shared letters: anrw. Private to "waren": e. Private to "warnt": t.

"waren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "warnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • warenawren · waern · warenn · wraen · wwaren
  • warntawrnt · wanrt · warnnt · warntt · warrnt · wartn · wrant · wwarnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "waren" for "warnt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaːʁən] versus [vaʁnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "waren" or "warnt" show up more?
"waren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #115 in our German list, against #5,044 for "warnt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "waren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "warnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,627 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "waren" and "warnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wants vs warnt". 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 #1,995,627 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