Which to use
“waren” and “wehen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #115
- “waren” frequency rank
- #13,067
- “wehen” frequency rank
- 13182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waren | wehen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Präteritum Indikativ Aktiv des Verbs sein | eine Luftströmung verursachen |
Where the eye mixes waren and wehen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. waren and wehen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: waren vs wehen
A purely visual mix-up. waren ([ˈvaːʁən]) and wehen ([ˈveːən]) 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 13182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waren is recorded at frequency rank #115, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaːʁən]. wehen is at rank #13,067, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈveːən].
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 13182, this pair ranks #1,959,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of waren vs wehen
Shared letters: enw. Private to "waren": ar. Private to "wehen": h.
"waren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "wehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "waren" for "wehen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "waren" or "wehen"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "waren" and "wehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "waren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,959,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waren" and "wehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehen vs weilen". 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 #1,959,612 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.