GefechtevsgerechteTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#25,563
“Gefechte” frequency rank
#13,840
“gerechte” frequency rank
39403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gefechte gerechte
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gefecht Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gerecht

Where the eye mixes Gefechte and gerechte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Gefechte and gerechte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
Gefechte
8 ch
gerechte

Look-alike desk: Gefechte vs gerechte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gefechte is [ɡəˈfɛçtə] while gerechte is [ɡəˈʁɛçtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “Gefechte” becomes r in “gerechte”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gefechte is recorded at frequency rank #25,563, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛçtə]. gerechte is at rank #13,840, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʁɛçtə].

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 39403, this pair ranks #1,537,781 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gefechte vs gerechte

Shared letters: ceght. Private to "Gefechte": f. Private to "gerechte": r.

"Gefechte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "gerechte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gefechte ← egfechte · geefchte · gefcehte · gefecchte · gefechet · gefechhte · gefechtte · gefecthe
  • gerechte ← egrechte · geerchte · gercehte · gerecchte · gerechet · gerechhte · gerechtte · gerecthe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gefechte" for "gerechte" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gefechte" is a noun and "gerechte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gefechte" or "gerechte" show up more?
"gerechte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,840 in our German list, against #25,563 for "Gefechte". 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 "Gefechte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gerechte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,537,781 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gefechte" and "gerechte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gedeckte vs Gefechte". 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 #1,537,781 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