gebautvsgehäuftWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gebaut is a adjective, gehäuft is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gebaut” is an adjective and “gehäuft” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,514
“gebaut” frequency rank
#37,533
“gehäuft” frequency rank
39047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebaut gehäuft
Definition durch Fertigung, Herstellung, Produktion oder Ähnliches entstanden seiend Partizip Perfekt des Verbs häufen

Where the eye mixes gebaut and gehäuft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gebaut
7 ch
gehäuft

Why the eye confuses gebaut with gehäuft

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebaut is [ɡəˈbaʊ̯t] while gehäuft is [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ft]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebaut is recorded at frequency rank #1,514, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaʊ̯t]. gehäuft is at rank #37,533, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ft].

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 39047, this pair ranks #1,547,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebaut vs gehäuft

Shared letters: egtu. Private to "gebaut": ab. Private to "gehäuft": fhä.

"gebaut" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "gehäuft" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebautegbaut · gbeaut · geabut · gebatu · gebautt · gebbaut · gebuat · ggebaut

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebaut" for "gehäuft" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebaut" is an adjective and "gehäuft" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gebaut" or "gehäuft"?
"gebaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,514 in our German list, against #37,533 for "gehäuft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "gebaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehäuft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,547,528 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebaut" and "gehäuft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehäuft vs gerafft". 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 #1,547,528 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