weiltevswollteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,422
“weilte” frequency rank
#298
“wollte” frequency rank
29720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weilte wollte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs weilen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wollen

Where the eye mixes weilte and wollte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. weilte (CVVCCV) and wollte (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
weilte
6 ch
wollte

Look-alike desk: weilte vs wollte

A purely visual mix-up. weilte ([ˈvaɪ̯ltə]) and wollte ([ˈvɔltə]) 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 29720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weilte is recorded at frequency rank #29,422, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvaɪ̯ltə]. wollte is at rank #298, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔltə].

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 29720, this pair ranks #1,761,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weilte vs wollte

Shared letters: eltw. Private to "weilte": i. Private to "wollte": o.

"weilte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "wollte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weilte ← ewilte · weilet · weillte · weiltte · weitle · welite · wielte · wweilte
  • wollte ← owllte · wlolte · wollet · wolltte · wolte · woltle · wwollte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "weilte" and "wollte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvaɪ̯ltə] versus [ˈvɔltə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "weilte" or "wollte" show up more?
"wollte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #298 in our German list, against #29,422 for "weilte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "weilte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wollte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,761,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weilte" and "wollte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weilte vs welke". 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 #1,761,510 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