wentvswettWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,632
“went” frequency rank
#20,792
“wett” frequency rank
69424
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature went wett
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs go 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wetten

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set went and wett apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
went
4 ch
wett

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. went ([went]) and wett ([vɛt]) 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 a single letter - n in “went” becomes t in “wett”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

went is recorded at frequency rank #48,632, classified as averb, pronounced [went]. wett is at rank #20,792, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɛt].

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 69424, this pair ranks #477,055 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of went vs wett

Shared letters: etw. Private to "went": n. Private to "wett": -.

"went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "wett" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wentewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent
  • wettewtt · wtet · wwett

Frequency comparison

went#48,632
wett#20,792

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "went" and "wett" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([went] versus [vɛt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "went" or "wett"?
"wett" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,792 in our German list, against #48,632 for "went". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering went vs wett

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “went” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list