geisvsguessWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: geis is a noun, guess is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geis” is a noun and “guess” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,964
“geis” frequency rank
#29,615
“guess” frequency rank
75579
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geis guess
Definition Inessiv Singular des Substantivs gei „Homosexueller“ mutmaßen, vermuten, erraten

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
geis
5 ch
guess

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: geis is anoun and guessaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geis is recorded at frequency rank #45,964, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. guess is at rank #29,615, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡɛs].

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 75579, this pair ranks #304,549 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of geis vs guess

Shared letters: egs. Private to "geis": i. Private to "guess": u.

"geis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "guess" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geisegis · geiss · gesi · ggeis · gies
  • guessgeuss · gguess · gues · gueß · guses · ugess

Frequency comparison

geis#45,964
guess#29,615

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "geis" and "guess" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geis" is a noun and "guess" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "geis" or "guess"?
"guess" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,615 in our German list, against #45,964 for "geis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering geis vs guess

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “geis”; for a verb, it's “guess”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “geis” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list