gelehrtenvsGelehrterWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gelehrten is a adjective, Gelehrter is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gelehrten” is an adjective and “Gelehrter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,922
“gelehrten” frequency rank
#20,931
“Gelehrter” frequency rank
33853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelehrten Gelehrter
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelehrt gebildete Person, die über erhebliches Wissen, meist einer bestimmten Fachrichtung, verfügt

Where the eye mixes gelehrten and Gelehrter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gelehrten and Gelehrter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
gelehrten
9 ch
Gelehrter

Why the eye confuses gelehrten with Gelehrter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelehrten is [ɡəˈleːɐ̯tn̩] while Gelehrter is [ɡəˈleːɐ̯tɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “gelehrten” becomes r in “Gelehrter”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelehrten is recorded at frequency rank #12,922, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɐ̯tn̩]. Gelehrter is at rank #20,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɐ̯tɐ].

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 33853, this pair ranks #1,676,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelehrten vs Gelehrter

Shared letters: eghlrt. Private to "gelehrten": n. Private to "Gelehrter": -.

"gelehrten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "Gelehrter" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelehrten ← eglehrten · geelhrten · gelehhrten · gelehretn · gelehrrten · gelehrtenn · gelehrtne · gelehrtten
  • Gelehrter ← eglehrter · geelhrter · gelehhrter · gelehretr · gelehrrter · gelehrterr · gelehrtre · gelehrtter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelehrten" for "Gelehrter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gelehrten" is an adjective and "Gelehrter" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gelehrten" or "Gelehrter"?
"gelehrten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,922 in our German list, against #20,931 for "Gelehrter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelehrten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gelehrter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,676,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelehrten" and "Gelehrter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geehrten vs Gelehrter". 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 #1,676,605 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