gatevsGreteTell them apart

Quick tell: gate is a noun, Grete is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gate” is a noun and “Grete” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,712
“gate” frequency rank
#36,967
“Grete” frequency rank
49679
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gate Grete
Definition Bewegliche, türähnliche Sperre, die den Zugang zu einem umzäunten oder durch Mauern eingeschlossenen Gelände bildet weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes gate and Grete

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

4 ch
gate
5 ch
Grete

Visual trap between gate and Grete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gate is [ɡeɪt] while Grete is [ˈɡʁeːtə]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49679, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gate is recorded at frequency rank #12,712, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡeɪt]. Grete is at rank #36,967, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈɡʁeːtə].

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 49679, this pair ranks #1,202,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gate vs Grete

Shared letters: egt. Private to "gate": a. Private to "Grete": r.

"gate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Grete" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gateagte · gaet · ggate · gtae
  • Gretegerte · ggrete · greet · grette · grrete · grtee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gate" and "Grete" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gate" is a noun and "Grete" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gate" or "Grete" show up more?
"gate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,712 in our German list, against #36,967 for "Grete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,202,372 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gate" and "Grete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greco vs Grete". 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 #1,202,372 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