# what vs why

> German confusable word pair

## The two words

### what
*pronoun · IPA [wɒt] · frequency rank #4,752*
was?

### why
*adverb · IPA [waɪ] · frequency rank #11,570*
warum

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/de/vs/what-vs-why