GebetvsgelbenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Gebet is a noun, gelben is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gebet” is a noun and “gelben” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,608
“Gebet” frequency rank
#5,592
“gelben” frequency rank
13200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gebet gelben
Definition an einen Gott gerichtete Bitte, Gespräch mit einem Gott Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelb

Where the eye mixes Gebet and gelben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Gebet runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against gelben's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Gebet
6 ch
gelben

Visual trap between Gebet and gelben

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gebet is [ɡəˈbeːt] while gelben is [ˈɡɛlbn̩]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gebet is recorded at frequency rank #7,608, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈbeːt]. gelben is at rank #5,592, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɛlbn̩].

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 13200, this pair ranks #1,959,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gebet vs gelben

Shared letters: beg. Private to "Gebet": t. Private to "gelben": ln.

"Gebet" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gelben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gebet ← egbet · gbeet · gebbet · gebett · gebte · geebt · ggebet
  • gelben ← eglben · geblen · gelbben · gelbenn · gelbne · gelebn · gellben · ggelben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gebet" for "gelben" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gebet" is a noun and "gelben" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gebet" or "gelben"?
"gelben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,592 in our German list, against #7,608 for "Gebet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Gebet" and "gelben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gebet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gebet" and "gelben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gebet vs geebnet". 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 #1,959,475 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