GästenvsgeltenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#5,374
“Gästen” frequency rank
#1,353
“gelten” frequency rank
6727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gästen gelten
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gast gültig, verbindlich sein

Where the eye mixes Gästen and gelten

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

6 ch
Gästen
6 ch
gelten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gästen is [ˈɡɛstn̩] while gelten is [ˈɡɛltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 6727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gästen is recorded at frequency rank #5,374, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɛstn̩]. gelten is at rank #1,353, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡɛltn̩].

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 6727, this pair ranks #1,990,649 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gästen vs gelten

Shared letters: egnt. Private to "Gästen": . Private to "gelten": l.

"Gästen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "gelten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelteneglten · geletn · gellten · geltenn · geltne · geltten · getlen · ggelten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gästen" and "gelten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gästen" is a noun and "gelten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gästen" or "gelten"?
"gelten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,353 in our German list, against #5,374 for "Gästen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Gästen" and "gelten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gästen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,990,649 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gästen" and "gelten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gases vs Gästen". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list