GästevsgatesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Gäste is a noun, gates is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gäste” is a noun and “gates” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,597
“Gäste” frequency rank
#12,080
“gates” frequency rank
13677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gäste gates
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Gast 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gate

Where the eye mixes Gäste and gates

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Gäste
5 ch
gates

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gäste is [ˈɡɛstə] while gates is [ɡeɪts]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gäste is recorded at frequency rank #1,597, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɛstə]. gates is at rank #12,080, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡeɪts].

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 13677, this pair ranks #1,956,454 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gäste vs gates

Shared letters: egst. Private to "Gäste": ä. Private to "gates": a.

"Gäste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "gates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gatesagtes · gaets · gatess · gatse · gattes · ggates · gtaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gäste" and "gates" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gäste" is a noun and "gates" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gäste" or "gates"?
"Gäste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,597 in our German list, against #12,080 for "gates". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list