geballtenvsgebautenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,696
“geballten” frequency rank
#16,158
“gebauten” frequency rank
65854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geballten gebauten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geballt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebaut

Where the eye mixes geballten and gebauten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. geballten runs 9 letters (CVCVCCCVC) against gebauten's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
geballten
8 ch
gebauten

Visual trap between geballten and gebauten

A purely visual mix-up. geballten ([ɡəˈbaltn̩]) and gebauten ([ɡəˈbaʊ̯tn̩]) 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 65854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geballten is recorded at frequency rank #49,696, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaltn̩]. gebauten is at rank #16,158, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tn̩].

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 65854, this pair ranks #592,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geballten vs gebauten

Shared letters: abegnt. Private to "geballten": l. Private to "gebauten": u.

"geballten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gebauten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geballtenegballten · gbeallten · geabllten · geballetn · geballtenn · geballtne · geballtten · gebalten
  • gebautenegbauten · gbeauten · geabuten · gebatuen · gebauetn · gebautenn · gebautne · gebautten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geballten" for "gebauten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbaltn̩] versus [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "geballten" or "gebauten" show up more?
"gebauten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,158 in our German list, against #49,696 for "geballten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geballten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebauten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #592,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geballten" and "gebauten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geballten vs gewollten". 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 #592,717 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