wohntevswollteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,812
“wohnte” frequency rank
#298
“wollte” frequency rank
9110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wohnte wollte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wohnen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wollen

Where the eye mixes wohnte and wollte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wohnte
6 ch
wollte

Look-alike desk: wohnte vs wollte

A purely visual mix-up. wohnte ([ˈvoːntə]) and wollte ([ˈvɔltə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wohnte is recorded at frequency rank #8,812, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvoːntə]. wollte is at rank #298, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔltə].

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 9110, this pair ranks #1,981,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wohnte vs wollte

Shared letters: eotw. Private to "wohnte": hn. Private to "wollte": l.

"wohnte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wollte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wohnteowhnte · whonte · wohhnte · wohnet · wohnnte · wohntte · wohtne · wonhte
  • wollteowllte · wlolte · wollet · wolltte · wolte · woltle · wwollte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wohnte" and "wollte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvoːntə] versus [ˈvɔltə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "wohnte" or "wollte" show up more?
"wollte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #298 in our German list, against #8,812 for "wohnte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "wohnte" and "wollte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wohnte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wollte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wohnte" and "wollte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wehte vs wohnte". 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 #1,981,427 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