GelenkevsgelindeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Gelenke is a noun, gelinde is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#19,922
“Gelenke” frequency rank
#33,073
“gelinde” frequency rank
52995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gelenke gelinde
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gelenk von geringer Stärke

Where the eye mixes Gelenke and gelinde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Gelenke and gelinde follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Gelenke
7 ch
gelinde

Visual trap between Gelenke and gelinde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gelenke is [ɡəˈlɛŋkə] while gelinde is [ɡəˈlɪndə]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gelenke is recorded at frequency rank #19,922, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈlɛŋkə]. gelinde is at rank #33,073, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈlɪndə].

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 52995, this pair ranks #1,075,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gelenke vs gelinde

Shared letters: egln. Private to "Gelenke": k. Private to "gelinde": di.

"Gelenke" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "gelinde" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gelenkeeglenke · geelnke · gelekne · gelenek · gelenkke · gelennke · gellenke · gelneke
  • gelindeeglinde · geilnde · gelidne · gelindde · gelined · gelinnde · gellinde · gelnide

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gelenke" and "gelinde" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gelenke" is a noun and "gelinde" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gelenke" vs "gelinde" - which ranks higher?
"Gelenke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,922 in our German list, against #33,073 for "gelinde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gelenke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelinde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,075,192 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gelenke" and "gelinde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelinde vs Gerlinde". 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 #1,075,192 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