GästenvsgesternConfusable pair

Quick tell: Gästen is a noun, gestern is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,374
“Gästen” frequency rank
#617
“gestern” frequency rank
5991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gästen gestern
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gast am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag

Where the eye mixes Gästen and gestern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Gästen
7 ch
gestern

Why the eye confuses Gästen with gestern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gästen is [ˈɡɛstn̩] while gestern is [ˈɡɛstɐn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5991, 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]. gestern is at rank #617, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛstɐn].

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 5991, this pair ranks #1,993,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gästen vs gestern

Shared letters: egnst. Private to "Gästen": ä. Private to "gestern": r.

"Gästen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "gestern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesternegstern · gesetrn · gesstern · gestenr · gesternn · gesterrn · gestren · gesttern

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Gästen" and "gestern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gästen" is a noun and "gestern" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gästen" vs "gestern" - which ranks higher?
"gestern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #617 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gästen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gestern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,993,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gästen" and "gestern" 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

Confusion rank #1,993,061 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