GefällevsgefalleneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,228
“Gefälle” frequency rank
#29,590
“gefallene” frequency rank
48818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gefälle gefallene
Definition der Grad der Neigung einer Straße oder eines Geländes Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gefallen

Where the eye mixes Gefälle and gefallene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Gefälle runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against gefallene's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Gefälle
9 ch
gefallene

Look-alike desk: Gefälle vs gefallene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gefälle is [ɡəˈfɛlə] while gefallene is [ɡəˈfalənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 48818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gefälle is recorded at frequency rank #19,228, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛlə]. gefallene is at rank #29,590, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈfalənə].

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 48818, this pair ranks #1,234,505 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gefälle vs gefallene

Shared letters: efgl. Private to "Gefälle": ä. Private to "gefallene": an.

"Gefälle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "gefallene" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gefalleneegfallene · geafllene · gefalelne · gefalene · gefalleen · gefallnee · geffallene · geflalene

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gefälle" and "gefallene" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gefälle" is a noun and "gefallene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gefälle" or "gefallene" show up more?
"Gefälle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,228 in our German list, against #29,590 for "gefallene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gefälle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gefallene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,234,505 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gefälle" and "gefallene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gefälle vs Gefilde". 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 #1,234,505 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