geballtenvsgewähltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,696
“geballten” frequency rank
#6,542
“gewählten” frequency rank
56238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geballten gewählten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geballt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewählt

Where the eye mixes geballten and gewählten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. geballten and gewählten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
geballten
9 ch
gewählten

Look-alike desk: geballten vs gewählten

A purely visual mix-up. geballten ([ɡəˈbaltn̩]) and gewählten ([ɡəˈvɛːltn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56238, 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]. gewählten is at rank #6,542, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛːltn̩].

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 56238, this pair ranks #947,985 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geballten vs gewählten

Shared letters: eglnt. Private to "geballten": ab. Private to "gewählten": hwä.

"geballten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gewählten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geballten ← egballten · gbeallten · geabllten · geballetn · geballtenn · geballtne · geballtten · gebalten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "geballten" and "gewählten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbaltn̩] versus [ɡəˈvɛːltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "geballten" vs "gewählten" - which ranks higher?
"gewählten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,542 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geballten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewählten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #947,985 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geballten" and "gewählten" 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 #947,985 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