wartestvswarteteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,843
“wartest” frequency rank
#7,847
“wartete” frequency rank
29690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wartest wartete
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs warten

Where the eye mixes wartest and wartete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. wartest (CVCCVCC) and wartete (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
wartest
7 ch
wartete

Visual trap between wartest and wartete

A purely visual mix-up. wartest ([ˈvaʁtəst]) and wartete ([ˈvaʁtətə]) 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 29690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wartest is recorded at frequency rank #21,843, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtəst]. wartete is at rank #7,847, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtətə].

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 29690, this pair ranks #1,762,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wartest vs wartete

Shared letters: aertw. Private to "wartest": s. Private to "wartete": -.

"wartest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "wartete" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wartest ← awrtest · waretst · warrtest · wartesst · wartestt · wartets · wartset · warttest
  • wartete ← awrtete · warette · warrtete · warteet · wartette · warttee · warttete · watrete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "wartest" for "wartete" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaʁtəst] versus [ˈvaʁtətə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wartest" or "wartete"?
"wartete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,847 in our German list, against #21,843 for "wartest". 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 "wartest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wartete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,762,093 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wartest" and "wartete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wärest vs wartest". 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 #1,762,093 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