GattevsguteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Gatte is a noun, gute is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gatte” is a noun and “gute” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,344
“Gatte” frequency rank
#226
“gute” frequency rank
22570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gatte gute
Definition der Ehemann Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Gatte and gute apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Gatte
4 ch
gute

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gatte is [ˈɡatə] while gute is [ˈɡuːtə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gatte is recorded at frequency rank #22,344, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡatə]. gute is at rank #226, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡuːtə].

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 22570, this pair ranks #1,872,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gatte vs gute

Shared letters: egt. Private to "Gatte": a. Private to "gute": u.

"Gatte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "gute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gatteagtte · gatet · ggatte · gtate
  • guteggute · gtue · guet · gutte · ugte

Frequency comparison

Gatte#22,344
gute#226

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gatte" and "gute" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gatte" is a noun and "gute" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gatte" or "gute"?
"gute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #226 in our German list, against #22,344 for "Gatte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Gatte vs gute

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Gatte”; for an adjective, it's “gute”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Gatte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list