wartenvsWortenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: warten is a verb, Worten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“warten” is a verb and “Worten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#848
“warten” frequency rank
#2,226
“Worten” frequency rank
3074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature warten Worten
Definition Zeit verstreichen lassen beziehungsweise untätig sein, bis ein bestimmter Zustand eintrifft Dativ Plural des Substantivs Wort

Where the eye mixes warten and Worten

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

6 ch
warten
6 ch
Worten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: warten is [ˈvaʁtn̩] while Worten is [ˈvɔʁtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “warten” becomes o in “Worten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

warten is recorded at frequency rank #848, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtn̩]. Worten is at rank #2,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɔʁtn̩].

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 3074, this pair ranks #2,000,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of warten vs Worten

Shared letters: enrtw. Private to "warten": a. Private to "Worten": o.

"warten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Worten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wartenawrten · waretn · warrten · wartenn · wartne · wartten · watren · wraten
  • Wortenowrten · woretn · worrten · wortenn · wortne · wortten · wotren · wroten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "warten" and "Worten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "warten" is a verb and "Worten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "warten" or "Worten"?
"warten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #848 in our German list, against #2,226 for "Worten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "warten" and "Worten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "warten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Worten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,000,998 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "warten" and "Worten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Worten vs Wotan". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list