wolltevswolltestWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#298
“wollte” frequency rank
#6,613
“wolltest” frequency rank
6911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wollte wolltest
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wollen 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs wollen

Where the eye mixes wollte and wolltest

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wollte
8 ch
wolltest

Look-alike desk: wollte vs wolltest

A purely visual mix-up. wollte ([ˈvɔltə]) and wolltest ([ˈvɔltəst]) 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) - “wollte” sits inside “wolltest”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wollte is recorded at frequency rank #298, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔltə]. wolltest is at rank #6,613, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈvɔltəst].

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 6911, this pair ranks #1,990,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wollte vs wolltest

Shared letters: elotw. Private to "wollte": -. Private to "wolltest": s.

"wollte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "wolltest" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wollteowllte · wlolte · wollet · wolltte · wolte · woltle · wwollte
  • wolltestowlltest · wloltest · wolletst · wolltesst · wolltestt · wolltets · wolltset · wollttest

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "wollte" and "wolltest" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈvɔltə] versus [ˈvɔltəst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "wollte" or "wolltest"?
"wollte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #298 in our German list, against #6,613 for "wolltest". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "wollte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wolltest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,990,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wollte" and "wolltest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wolltest vs wolltet". 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 #1,990,050 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