GefährtevsgeführtWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#36,349
“Gefährte” frequency rank
#1,197
“geführt” frequency rank
37546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gefährte geführt
Definition 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 Partizip Perfekt des Verbs führen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Gefährte and geführt apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
Gefährte
7 ch
geführt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gefährte is [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯tə] while geführt is [ɡəˈfyːɐ̯t]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gefährte is recorded at frequency rank #36,349, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯tə]. geführt is at rank #1,197, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːɐ̯t].

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 37546, this pair ranks #1,587,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gefährte vs geführt

Shared letters: efghrt. Private to "Gefährte": ä. Private to "geführt": ü.

"Gefährte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "geführt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Frequency comparison

Gefährte#36,349
geführt#1,197

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gefährte" and "geführt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gefährte" is a noun and "geführt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gefährte" or "geführt"?
"geführt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,197 in our German list, against #36,349 for "Gefährte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Gefährte vs geführt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Gefährte”; for a verb, it's “geführt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Gefährte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list