GemeindevsGerlindeTell them apart

Quick tell: Gemeinde is a noun, Gerlinde is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gemeinde” is a noun and “Gerlinde” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#792
“Gemeinde” frequency rank
#48,176
“Gerlinde” frequency rank
48968
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gemeinde Gerlinde
Definition gesellschaftliches Gebilde: Gemeinschaft mit höherem Organisationsgrad weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes Gemeinde and Gerlinde

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Gemeinde (CVCVVCCV) and Gerlinde (CVCCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
Gemeinde
8 ch
Gerlinde

Look-alike desk: Gemeinde vs Gerlinde

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gemeinde is [ɡəˈmaɪ̯ndə] while Gerlinde is [ɡeːɐ̯ˈlɪndə]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gemeinde is recorded at frequency rank #792, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈmaɪ̯ndə]. Gerlinde is at rank #48,176, tagged as aname, pronounced [ɡeːɐ̯ˈlɪndə].

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 48968, this pair ranks #1,228,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gemeinde vs Gerlinde

Shared letters: degin. Private to "Gemeinde": m. Private to "Gerlinde": lr.

"Gemeinde" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "Gerlinde" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gemeinde ← egmeinde · geeminde · gemeidne · gemeindde · gemeined · gemeinnde · gemenide · gemiende
  • Gerlinde ← egrlinde · gelrinde · gerilnde · gerlidne · gerlindde · gerlined · gerlinnde · gerllinde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gemeinde" for "Gerlinde" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gemeinde" is a noun and "Gerlinde" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gemeinde" vs "Gerlinde" - which ranks higher?
"Gemeinde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #792 in our German list, against #48,176 for "Gerlinde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gemeinde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gerlinde" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,228,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gemeinde" and "Gerlinde" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gerlinde vs Gewinde". 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 #1,228,892 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