gehtsvsgelteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gehts is a abbrev, gelte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gehts” is an abbrev and “gelte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,190
“gehts” frequency rank
#14,811
“gelte” frequency rank
18001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehts gelte
Definition geht es Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gehts and gelte apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
gehts
5 ch
gelte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehts is [ɡeːt͡s] while gelte is [ˈɡɛltə]. 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 (abbrev vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehts is recorded at frequency rank #3,190, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [ɡeːt͡s]. gelte is at rank #14,811, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɛltə].

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 18001, this pair ranks #1,922,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehts vs gelte

Shared letters: egt. Private to "gehts": hs. Private to "gelte": l.

"gehts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "gelte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehtseghts · gehhts · gehtss · gehtts · geths · ggehts · ghets
  • gelteeglte · gelet · gellte · geltte · getle · ggelte · glete

Frequency comparison

gehts#3,190
gelte#14,811

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehts" and "gelte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehts" is an abbrev and "gelte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gehts" or "gelte"?
"gehts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,190 in our German list, against #14,811 for "gelte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gehts vs gelte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an abbrev, it's “gehts”; for an adjective, it's “gelte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gehts” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list