Which to use
“warten” is a verb and “Wartung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #848
- “warten” frequency rank
- #13,066
- “Wartung” frequency rank
- 13914
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | warten | Wartung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Zeit verstreichen lassen beziehungsweise untätig sein, bis ein bestimmter Zustand eintrifft | Gesamtheit der Maßnahmen zur Prüfung und Instandhaltung, die die Abnutzung verhindern sollen |
Where the eye mixes warten and Wartung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. warten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against Wartung's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between warten and Wartung
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: warten is [ˈvaʁtn̩] while Wartung is [ˈvaʁtʊŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
warten is recorded at frequency rank #848, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtn̩]. Wartung is at rank #13,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaʁtʊŋ].
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 13914, this pair ranks #1,954,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of warten vs Wartung
Shared letters: anrtw. Private to "warten": e. Private to "Wartung": gu.
"warten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Wartung" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "warten" for "Wartung" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "warten" or "Wartung" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "warten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Wartung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,954,838 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "warten" and "Wartung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "warten 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 #1,954,838 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.