WärtervswartestWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#33,922
“Wärter” frequency rank
#21,843
“wartest” frequency rank
55765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Wärter wartest
Definition Person, die etwas beaufsichtigt oder bewacht 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warten

Where the eye mixes Wärter and wartest

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

6 ch
Wärter
7 ch
wartest

Why the eye confuses Wärter with wartest

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Wärter is [ˈvɛʁtɐ] while wartest is [ˈvaʁtəst]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Wärter is recorded at frequency rank #33,922, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈvɛʁtɐ]. wartest is at rank #21,843, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtəst].

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 55765, this pair ranks #966,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Wärter vs wartest

Shared letters: ertw. Private to "Wärter": ä. Private to "wartest": as.

"Wärter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wartest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wartestawrtest · waretst · warrtest · wartesst · wartestt · wartets · wartset · warttest

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Wärter" for "wartest" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Wärter" is a noun and "wartest" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Wärter" or "wartest"?
"wartest" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,843 in our German list, against #33,922 for "Wärter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Wärter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wartest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #966,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Wärter" and "wartest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Wärter vs writer". 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 #966,647 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