gerietenvsgezieltenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gerieten is a verb, gezielten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gerieten” is a verb and “gezielten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,643
“gerieten” frequency rank
#17,920
“gezielten” frequency rank
33563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gerieten gezielten
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs geraten Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gezielt

Where the eye mixes gerieten and gezielten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gerieten runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against gezielten's 9 (CVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gerieten
9 ch
gezielten

Look-alike desk: gerieten vs gezielten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gerieten is [ɡəˈʁiːtn̩] while gezielten is [ɡəˈt͡siːltn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gerieten is recorded at frequency rank #15,643, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʁiːtn̩]. gezielten is at rank #17,920, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈt͡siːltn̩].

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 33563, this pair ranks #1,683,188 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gerieten vs gezielten

Shared letters: egint. Private to "gerieten": r. Private to "gezielten": lz.

"gerieten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "gezielten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gerietenegrieten · geireten · gereiten · gerieetn · gerietenn · gerietne · gerietten · geriteen
  • gezieltenegzielten · geizelten · gezeilten · gezieletn · geziellten · gezieltenn · gezieltne · gezieltten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gerieten" and "gezielten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gerieten" is a verb and "gezielten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gerieten" or "gezielten"?
"gerieten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,643 in our German list, against #17,920 for "gezielten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gerieten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gezielten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,683,188 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gerieten" and "gezielten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gezielten vs gezieltes". 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 #1,683,188 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