Which to use
“wohn” and “wohnte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,257
- “wohn” frequency rank
- #8,812
- “wohnte” frequency rank
- 16069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wohn | wohnte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs wohnen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wohnen |
Where the eye mixes wohn and wohnte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses wohn with wohnte
A purely visual mix-up. wohn ([voːn]) and wohnte ([ˈvoːntə]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “wohn” sits inside “wohnte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wohn is recorded at frequency rank #7,257, classified as averb, pronounced [voːn]. wohnte is at rank #8,812, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvoːntə].
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 16069, this pair ranks #1,938,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wohn vs wohnte
Shared letters: hnow. Private to "wohn": -. Private to "wohnte": et.
"wohn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wohnte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wohn" and "wohnte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "wohn" or "wohnte" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wohn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wohnte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,938,858 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wohn" and "wohnte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wohn vs Wotan". 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 #1,938,858 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.