warnevswarnenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,389
“warne” frequency rank
#6,129
“warnen” frequency rank
39518
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature warne warnen
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warnen jemanden auf eine Gefahr aufmerksam machen

Where the eye mixes warne and warnen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
warne
6 ch
warnen

Why the eye confuses warne with warnen

A purely visual mix-up. warne ([ˈvaʁnə]) and warnen ([ˈvaʁnən]) 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 extra letter(s) - “warne” sits inside “warnen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

warne is recorded at frequency rank #33,389, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁnə]. warnen is at rank #6,129, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁnən].

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 39518, this pair ranks #1,534,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of warne vs warnen

Shared letters: aenrw. Private to "warne": -. Private to "warnen": -.

"warne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "warnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • warneawrne · wanre · wrane · wwarne
  • warnenawrnen · wanren · warnenn · warnne · warnnen · warrnen · wranen · wwarnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "warne" for "warnen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaʁnə] versus [ˈvaʁnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "warne" vs "warnen" - which ranks higher?
"warnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,129 in our German list, against #33,389 for "warne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "warne" and "warnen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "warne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "warnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,534,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "warne" and "warnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "warne 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 #1,534,568 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