wartetvswarteteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,372
“wartet” frequency rank
#7,847
“wartete” frequency rank
10219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wartet wartete
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs warten 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs warten

Where the eye mixes wartet and wartete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wartet
7 ch
wartete

Look-alike desk: wartet vs wartete

A purely visual mix-up. wartet ([ˈvaʁtət]) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wartet” sits inside “wartete”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wartet is recorded at frequency rank #2,372, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaʁtət]. 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 10219, this pair ranks #1,976,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wartet vs wartete

Shared letters: aertw. Private to "wartet": -. Private to "wartete": -.

"wartet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wartete" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wartetawrtet · warett · warrtet · wartett · warttet · watret · wratet · wwartet
  • warteteawrtete · warette · warrtete · warteet · wartette · warttee · warttete · watrete

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wartet" and "wartete" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaʁtət] versus [ˈvaʁtətə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wartet" or "wartete" show up more?
"wartet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,372 in our German list, against #7,847 for "wartete". 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 "wartet" and "wartete" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wartet" 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 #1,976,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wartet" and "wartete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wartete vs wütete". 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 #1,976,192 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