geehrtevsGefährteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#15,366
“geehrte” frequency rank
#36,349
“Gefährte” frequency rank
51715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geehrte Gefährte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geehrt Person, die einer anderen Person durch Zuneigung oder Schicksal verbunden ist und mit der man viel Zeit verbringt, zum Beispiel auch, indem man gemeinsam etwas unternimmt

Where the eye mixes geehrte and Gefährte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. geehrte runs 7 letters (CVVCCCV) against Gefährte's 8 (CVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
geehrte
8 ch
Gefährte

Why the eye confuses geehrte with Gefährte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geehrte is [ɡəˈʔeːɐ̯tə] while Gefährte is [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯tə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geehrte is recorded at frequency rank #15,366, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʔeːɐ̯tə]. Gefährte is at rank #36,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯tə].

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 51715, this pair ranks #1,124,867 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geehrte vs Gefährte

Shared letters: eghrt. Private to "geehrte": -. Private to "Gefährte": fä.

"geehrte" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV  ·  "Gefährte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geehrte ← egehrte · geehhrte · geehret · geehrrte · geehrtte · geehtre · geerhte · geherte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geehrte" for "Gefährte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geehrte" is an adjective and "Gefährte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "geehrte" or "Gefährte" show up more?
"geehrte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,366 in our German list, against #36,349 for "Gefährte". 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 "geehrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gefährte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,124,867 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geehrte" and "Gefährte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gefährte vs genährt". 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 #1,124,867 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