wentvswinktWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,632
“went” frequency rank
#16,607
“winkt” frequency rank
65239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature went winkt
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs go 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs winken

Where the eye mixes went and winkt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. went runs 4 letters (CVCC) against winkt's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
went
5 ch
winkt

Why the eye confuses went with winkt

A purely visual mix-up. went ([went]) and winkt ([vɪŋkt]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65239, 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]. winkt is at rank #16,607, tagged as averb, pronounced [vɪŋkt].

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 65239, this pair ranks #613,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of went vs winkt

Shared letters: ntw. Private to "went": e. Private to "winkt": ik.

"went" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "winkt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • went ← ewnt · wennt · wentt · wetn · wnet · wwent
  • winkt ← iwnkt · wiknt · winkkt · winktt · winnkt · wintk · wnikt · wwinkt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "went" for "winkt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([went] versus [vɪŋkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "went" or "winkt"?
"winkt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,607 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "went" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "winkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #613,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "went" and "winkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wants vs went". 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 #613,749 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