Which to use
“gates” is a verb and “gutes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,080
- “gates” frequency rank
- #793
- “gutes” frequency rank
- 12873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gates | gutes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gate | Nominativ Singular Neutrum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut |
Where the eye mixes gates and gutes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gates and gutes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses gates with gutes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gates is [ɡeɪts] while gutes is [ˈɡuːtəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “gates” becomes u in “gutes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gates is recorded at frequency rank #12,080, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡeɪts]. gutes is at rank #793, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡuːtəs].
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 12873, this pair ranks #1,961,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gates vs gutes
Shared letters: egst. Private to "gates": a. Private to "gutes": u.
"gates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "gutes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gates" and "gutes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "gates" or "gutes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gates" and "gutes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,961,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gates" and "gutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gates vs gries". 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 #1,961,502 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.