geballtevsgebauteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“geballte” and “gebaute” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,062
“geballte” frequency rank
#18,253
“gebaute” frequency rank
51315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geballte gebaute
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geballt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebaut

Where the eye mixes geballte and gebaute

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. geballte runs 8 letters (CVCVCCCV) against gebaute's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
geballte
7 ch
gebaute

Why the eye confuses geballte with gebaute

A purely visual mix-up. geballte ([ɡəˈbaltə]) and gebaute ([ɡəˈbaʊ̯tə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geballte is recorded at frequency rank #33,062, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaltə]. gebaute is at rank #18,253, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tə].

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 51315, this pair ranks #1,140,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geballte vs gebaute

Shared letters: abegt. Private to "geballte": l. Private to "gebaute": u.

"geballte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "gebaute" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geballte ← egballte · gbeallte · geabllte · geballet · geballtte · gebalte · gebaltle · gebballte
  • gebaute ← egbaute · gbeaute · geabute · gebatue · gebauet · gebautte · gebbaute · gebuate

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geballte" for "gebaute" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbaltə] versus [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "geballte" or "gebaute" show up more?
"gebaute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,253 in our German list, against #33,062 for "geballte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geballte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebaute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,140,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geballte" and "gebaute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geballte vs geballten". 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 #1,140,175 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