gebautevsgebrautWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,253
“gebaute” frequency rank
#35,785
“gebraut” frequency rank
54038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebaute gebraut
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebaut Partizip Perfekt des Verbs brauen

Where the eye mixes gebaute and gebraut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gebaute
7 ch
gebraut

Visual trap between gebaute and gebraut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebaute is [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tə] while gebraut is [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 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 54038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebaute is recorded at frequency rank #18,253, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tə]. gebraut is at rank #35,785, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯t].

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 54038, this pair ranks #1,034,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebaute vs gebraut

Shared letters: abegtu. Private to "gebaute": -. Private to "gebraut": r.

"gebaute" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "gebraut" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebauteegbaute · gbeaute · geabute · gebatue · gebauet · gebautte · gebbaute · gebuate
  • gebrautegbraut · gberaut · gebarut · gebbraut · gebratu · gebrautt · gebrraut · gebruat

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gebaute" and "gebraut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebaute" is an adjective and "gebraut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gebaute" vs "gebraut" - which ranks higher?
"gebaute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,253 in our German list, against #35,785 for "gebraut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "gebaute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebraut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,034,519 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebaute" and "gebraut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebraut vs graut". 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 #1,034,519 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