gerittenvsgewitternTell them apart

Which to use

“geritten” and “gewittern” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,265
“geritten” frequency rank
#43,222
“gewittern” frequency rank
63487
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geritten gewittern
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs reiten blitzen und donnern, als Gewitter niedergehen

Where the eye mixes geritten and gewittern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
geritten
9 ch
gewittern

Why the eye confuses geritten with gewittern

A purely visual mix-up. geritten ([ɡəˈʁɪtn̩]) and gewittern ([ɡəˈvɪtɐn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geritten is recorded at frequency rank #20,265, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʁɪtn̩]. gewittern is at rank #43,222, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪtɐn].

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 63487, this pair ranks #675,046 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geritten vs gewittern

Shared letters: eginrt. Private to "geritten": -. Private to "gewittern": w.

"geritten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gewittern" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gerittenegritten · geirtten · geriten · geritetn · gerittenn · gerittne · gerritten · gertiten
  • gewitternegwittern · geiwttern · gewitern · gewitetrn · gewittenr · gewitternn · gewitterrn · gewittren

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geritten" for "gewittern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈʁɪtn̩] versus [ɡəˈvɪtɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "geritten" or "gewittern" show up more?
"geritten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,265 in our German list, against #43,222 for "gewittern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geritten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewittern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #675,046 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geritten" and "gewittern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewittern vs gezittert". 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 #675,046 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