GemütvsgutWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#21,616
“Gemüt” frequency rank
#89
“gut” frequency rank
21705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gemüt gut
Definition Gesamtheit der geistigen und seelischen Kräfte eines Menschen; die Wesensart eines Menschen vom Menschen her positiv bewertet, empfunden, gefühlt und dergleichen

Where the eye mixes Gemüt and gut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Gemüt
3 ch
gut

Why the eye confuses Gemüt with gut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gemüt is [ɡəˈmyːt] while gut is [ɡuːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gemüt is recorded at frequency rank #21,616, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈmyːt]. gut is at rank #89, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡuːt].

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 21705, this pair ranks #1,883,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gemüt vs gut

Shared letters: gt. Private to "Gemüt": emü. Private to "gut": u.

"Gemüt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Gemüt" and "gut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gemüt" is a noun and "gut" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gemüt" vs "gut" - which ranks higher?
"gut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #89 in our German list, against #21,616 for "Gemüt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gemüt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,883,108 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gemüt" and "gut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemixt vs Gemüt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,883,108 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