GehaltvsgehaltenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#3,376
“Gehalt” frequency rank
#1,419
“gehalten” frequency rank
4795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gehalt gehalten
Definition Menge einer bestimmten Substanz in einem Gemisch maßvoll, beherrscht

Where the eye mixes Gehalt and gehalten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Gehalt
8 ch
gehalten

Visual trap between Gehalt and gehalten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gehalt is [ɡəˈhalt] while gehalten is [ɡəˈhaltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Gehalt” sits inside “gehalten”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gehalt is recorded at frequency rank #3,376, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈhalt]. gehalten is at rank #1,419, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhaltn̩].

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 4795, this pair ranks #1,996,649 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gehalt vs gehalten

Shared letters: aeghlt. Private to "Gehalt": -. Private to "gehalten": n.

"Gehalt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gehalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gehalteghalt · geahlt · gehallt · gehaltt · gehatl · gehhalt · gehlat · ggehalt
  • gehalteneghalten · geahlten · gehaletn · gehallten · gehaltenn · gehaltne · gehaltten · gehatlen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gehalt" for "gehalten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gehalt" is a noun and "gehalten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gehalt" or "gehalten"?
"gehalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,419 in our German list, against #3,376 for "Gehalt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Gehalt" and "gehalten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gehalt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehalten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,649 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gehalt" and "gehalten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geballten vs gehalten". 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 #1,996,649 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