gedeihtvsgereiftTell them apart

Which to use

“gedeiht” and “gereift” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,141
“gedeiht” frequency rank
#38,134
“gereift” frequency rank
63275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gedeiht gereift
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gedeihen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs reifen

Where the eye mixes gedeiht and gereift

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gedeiht and gereift follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
gedeiht
7 ch
gereift

Why the eye confuses gedeiht with gereift

A purely visual mix-up. gedeiht ([ɡəˈdaɪ̯t]) and gereift ([ɡəˈʁaɪ̯ft]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gedeiht is recorded at frequency rank #25,141, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈdaɪ̯t]. gereift is at rank #38,134, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʁaɪ̯ft].

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 63275, this pair ranks #682,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gedeiht vs gereift

Shared letters: egit. Private to "gedeiht": dh. Private to "gereift": fr.

"gedeiht" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "gereift" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gedeiht ← egdeiht · gdeeiht · geddeiht · gedehit · gedeihht · gedeihtt · gedeith · gedieht
  • gereift ← egreift · geerift · gerefit · gereifft · gereiftt · gereitf · gerieft · gerreift

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gedeiht" for "gereift" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈdaɪ̯t] versus [ɡəˈʁaɪ̯ft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gedeiht" vs "gereift" - which ranks higher?
"gedeiht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,141 in our German list, against #38,134 for "gereift". 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 "gedeiht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gereift" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #682,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gedeiht" and "gereift" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gerafft vs gereift". 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 #682,569 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