Which to use
“gelte” is an adjective and “gerne” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,811
- “gelte” frequency rank
- #300
- “gerne” frequency rank
- 15111
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gelte | gerne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelt | freiwillig, mit Vergnügen |
Where the eye mixes gelte and gerne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses gelte with gerne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelte is [ˈɡɛltə] while gerne is [ˈɡɛʁnə]. 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 (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gelte is recorded at frequency rank #14,811, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɛltə]. gerne is at rank #300, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛʁnə].
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 15111, this pair ranks #1,946,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gelte vs gerne
Shared letters: eg. Private to "gelte": lt. Private to "gerne": nr.
"gelte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "gerne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gelte" and "gerne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "gelte" or "gerne" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gelte" and "gerne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gelte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gerne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,946,299 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gelte" and "gerne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelbem vs gelte". 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 #1,946,299 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.