gehenvsgeltenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gehen” and “gelten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#209
“gehen” frequency rank
#1,353
“gelten” frequency rank
1562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehen gelten
Definition sich schreitend, schrittweise fortbewegen gültig, verbindlich sein

Where the eye mixes gehen and gelten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
gehen
6 ch
gelten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gehen ([ˈɡeːən]) and gelten ([ˈɡɛltn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehen is recorded at frequency rank #209, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːən]. gelten is at rank #1,353, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡɛltn̩].

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 1562, this pair ranks #2,004,113 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehen vs gelten

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gehen": h. Private to "gelten": lt.

"gehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gelten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geheneghen · geehn · gehenn · gehhen · gehne · ggehen · gheen
  • gelteneglten · geletn · gellten · geltenn · geltne · geltten · getlen · ggelten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehen" and "gelten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡeːən] versus [ˈɡɛltn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gehen" or "gelten"?
"gehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #209 in our German list, against #1,353 for "gelten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "gehen" and "gelten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,113 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehen" and "gelten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelten vs Gilden". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list