gehtvsgemähtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#99
“geht” frequency rank
#47,435
“gemäht” frequency rank
47534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geht gemäht
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs mähen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set geht and gemäht apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
geht
6 ch
gemäht

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. geht ([ɡeːt]) and gemäht ([ɡəˈmɛːt]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geht is recorded at frequency rank #99, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡeːt]. gemäht is at rank #47,435, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈmɛːt].

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 47534, this pair ranks #1,280,938 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geht vs gemäht

Shared letters: eght. Private to "geht": -. Private to "gemäht": .

"geht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "gemäht" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehteght · gehht · gehtt · geth · ggeht · ghet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "geht" and "gemäht" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡeːt] versus [ɡəˈmɛːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "geht" or "gemäht"?
"geht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #99 in our German list, against #47,435 for "gemäht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list