gelangvsGlanzWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#2,152
“gelang” frequency rank
#7,056
“Glanz” frequency rank
9208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelang Glanz
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gelingen Schein oder Widerschein, besonders auf glatten Materialien; das Leuchten von etwas

Where the eye mixes gelang and Glanz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gelang runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against Glanz's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gelang
5 ch
Glanz

Look-alike desk: gelang vs Glanz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelang is [ɡəˈlaŋ] while Glanz is [ɡlant͡s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelang is recorded at frequency rank #2,152, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlaŋ]. Glanz is at rank #7,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡlant͡s].

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 9208, this pair ranks #1,980,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelang vs Glanz

Shared letters: agln. Private to "gelang": e. Private to "Glanz": z.

"gelang" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "Glanz" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelang ← eglang · gealng · gelagn · gelangg · gelanng · gellang · gelnag · ggelang
  • Glanz ← galnz · gglanz · glannz · glanzz · glazn · gllanz · glnaz · lganz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gelang" and "Glanz" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gelang" is a verb and "Glanz" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gelang" vs "Glanz" - which ranks higher?
"gelang" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,152 in our German list, against #7,056 for "Glanz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "gelang" and "Glanz" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Glanz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,975 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelang" and "Glanz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gaz vs Glanz". 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 #1,980,975 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