gelehrtevsgelernteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#19,921
“gelehrte” frequency rank
#19,235
“gelernte” frequency rank
39156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelehrte gelernte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelehrt Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelernt

Where the eye mixes gelehrte and gelernte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gelehrte and gelernte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
gelehrte
8 ch
gelernte

Why the eye confuses gelehrte with gelernte

A purely visual mix-up. gelehrte ([ɡəˈleːɐ̯tə]) and gelernte ([ɡəˈlɛʁntə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelehrte is recorded at frequency rank #19,921, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɐ̯tə]. gelernte is at rank #19,235, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈlɛʁntə].

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 39156, this pair ranks #1,544,580 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelehrte vs gelernte

Shared letters: eglrt. Private to "gelehrte": h. Private to "gelernte": n.

"gelehrte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV  ·  "gelernte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelehrte ← eglehrte · geelhrte · gelehhrte · gelehret · gelehrrte · gelehrtte · gelehtre · gelerhte
  • gelernte ← eglernte · geelrnte · gelenrte · gelernet · gelernnte · gelerntte · gelerrnte · gelertne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelehrte" for "gelernte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈleːɐ̯tə] versus [ɡəˈlɛʁntə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gelehrte" or "gelernte" show up more?
"gelernte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,235 in our German list, against #19,921 for "gelehrte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelehrte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelernte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,544,580 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelehrte" and "gelernte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelehnt vs gelehrte". 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 #1,544,580 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