gehörtvsghostWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#317
“gehört” frequency rank
#15,376
“ghost” frequency rank
15693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehört ghost
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs hören 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ghosten

Where the eye mixes gehört and ghost

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gehört
5 ch
ghost

Why the eye confuses gehört with ghost

A purely visual mix-up. gehört ([ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t]) and ghost ([ɡɔʊ̯st]) 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 15693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehört is recorded at frequency rank #317, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t]. ghost is at rank #15,376, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡɔʊ̯st].

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 15693, this pair ranks #1,941,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehört vs ghost

Shared letters: ght. Private to "gehört": erö. Private to "ghost": os.

"gehört" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "ghost" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ghostgghost · ghhost · ghosst · ghostt · ghots · ghsot · gohst · hgost

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehört" and "ghost" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t] versus [ɡɔʊ̯st]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gehört" or "ghost" show up more?
"gehört" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #317 in our German list, against #15,376 for "ghost". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehört" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ghost" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,941,889 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehört" and "ghost" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ghost vs guest". 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 #1,941,889 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