geheuervsgeheultWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: geheuer is a adjective, geheult is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geheuer” is an adjective and “geheult” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,703
“geheuer” frequency rank
#34,119
“geheult” frequency rank
83822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geheuer geheult
Definition nachvollziehbar und akzeptabel, so dass es Wohlbefinden auslöst; meist aber prädikativ in Verbindung mit „nicht“ gebräuchlich: „nicht (ganz)geheuer verdächtig/unheimlich Partizip Perfekt des Verbs heulen

Where the eye mixes geheuer and geheult

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. geheuer (CVCVVVC) and geheult (CVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
geheuer
7 ch
geheult

Look-alike desk: geheuer vs geheult

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geheuer is [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ɐ] while geheult is [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯lt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geheuer is recorded at frequency rank #49,703, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ɐ]. geheult is at rank #34,119, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯lt].

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 83822, this pair ranks #133,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of geheuer vs geheult

Shared letters: eghu. Private to "geheuer": r. Private to "geheult": lt.

"geheuer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "geheult" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geheueregheuer · geehuer · geheeur · geheuerr · geheure · gehheuer · gehueer · ggeheuer
  • geheultegheult · geehult · gehelut · geheullt · geheultt · geheutl · gehheult · gehuelt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geheuer" and "geheult" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geheuer" is an adjective and "geheult" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "geheuer" vs "geheult" - which ranks higher?
"geheult" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,119 in our German list, against #49,703 for "geheuer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geheuer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geheult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geheuer" and "geheult" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geheuer vs Gemäuer". 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 #133,577 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