Which to use
“what” is a pronoun and “wohnt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,752
- “what” frequency rank
- #3,163
- “wohnt” frequency rank
- 7915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | what | wohnt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | was? | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wohnen |
Where the eye mixes what and wohnt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between what and wohnt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: what is [wɒt] while wohnt is [voːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
what is recorded at frequency rank #4,752, classified as apron, pronounced [wɒt]. wohnt is at rank #3,163, tagged as averb, pronounced [voːnt].
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 7915, this pair ranks #1,986,348 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of what vs wohnt
Shared letters: htw. Private to "what": a. Private to "wohnt": no.
"what" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "wohnt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "what" and "wohnt" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "what" or "wohnt"?
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 "what" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wohnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,986,348 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "what" and "wohnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "went vs what". 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 #1,986,348 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.