gebautvsgemähtConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,514
“gebaut” frequency rank
#47,435
“gemäht” frequency rank
48949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes gebaut and gemäht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gebaut
6 ch
gemäht

Visual trap between gebaut and gemäht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebaut is [ɡəˈbaʊ̯t] while gemäht is [ɡəˈmɛːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48949, 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]. gemäht is at rank #47,435, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈmɛːt].

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 48949, this pair ranks #1,229,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebaut vs gemäht

Shared letters: egt. Private to "gebaut": abu. Private to "gemäht": hmä.

"gebaut" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "gemäht" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebaut" for "gemäht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebaut" is an adjective and "gemäht" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gebaut" or "gemäht" show up more?
"gebaut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,514 in our German list, against #47,435 for "gemäht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "gebaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemäht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,229,596 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebaut" and "gemäht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemäht vs gemixt". 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 #1,229,596 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