gedachtenvsGedichtenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gedachten is a adjective, Gedichten is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#32,054
“gedachten” frequency rank
#15,365
“Gedichten” frequency rank
47419
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gedachten Gedichten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gedacht Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gedicht

Where the eye mixes gedachten and Gedichten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gedachten and Gedichten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
gedachten
9 ch
Gedichten

Why the eye confuses gedachten with Gedichten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gedachten is [ɡəˈdaxtn̩] while Gedichten is [ɡəˈdɪçtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “gedachten” becomes i in “Gedichten”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gedachten is recorded at frequency rank #32,054, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈdaxtn̩]. Gedichten is at rank #15,365, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈdɪçtn̩].

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 47419, this pair ranks #1,284,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gedachten vs Gedichten

Shared letters: cdeghnt. Private to "gedachten": a. Private to "Gedichten": i.

"gedachten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "Gedichten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gedachtenegdachten · gdeachten · geadchten · gedacchten · gedachetn · gedachhten · gedachtenn · gedachtne
  • Gedichtenegdichten · gdeichten · gedcihten · geddichten · gedicchten · gedichetn · gedichhten · gedichtenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gedachten" for "Gedichten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gedachten" is an adjective and "Gedichten" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gedachten" or "Gedichten"?
"Gedichten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,365 in our German list, against #32,054 for "gedachten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gedachten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gedichten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,284,910 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gedachten" and "Gedichten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gedachten vs gedrehten". 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 #1,284,910 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