geballtevsgemalteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,062
“geballte” frequency rank
#40,556
“gemalte” frequency rank
73618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geballte gemalte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geballt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gemalt

Where the eye mixes geballte and gemalte

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

8 ch
geballte
7 ch
gemalte

Visual trap between geballte and gemalte

A purely visual mix-up. geballte ([ɡəˈbaltə]) and gemalte ([ɡəˈmaːltə]) 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 73618, 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]. gemalte is at rank #40,556, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈmaːltə].

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 73618, this pair ranks #355,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of geballte vs gemalte

Shared letters: aeglt. Private to "geballte": b. Private to "gemalte": m.

"geballte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "gemalte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geballte ← egballte · gbeallte · geabllte · geballet · geballtte · gebalte · gebaltle · gebballte
  • gemalte ← egmalte · geamlte · gemalet · gemallte · gemaltte · gematle · gemlate · gemmalte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geballte" for "gemalte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbaltə] versus [ɡəˈmaːltə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "geballte" vs "gemalte" - which ranks higher?
"geballte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,062 in our German list, against #40,556 for "gemalte". 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 "geballte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemalte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #355,416 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geballte" and "gemalte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemalte vs gestalte". 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 #355,416 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