GerüchtenvsgezüchtetTell them apart

Quick tell: Gerüchten is a noun, gezüchtet is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gerüchten” is a noun and “gezüchtet” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,912
“Gerüchten” frequency rank
#18,272
“gezüchtet” frequency rank
36184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gerüchten gezüchtet
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gerücht Partizip Perfekt des Verbs züchten

Where the eye mixes Gerüchten and gezüchtet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Gerüchten and gezüchtet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
Gerüchten
9 ch
gezüchtet

Why the eye confuses Gerüchten with gezüchtet

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gerüchten is [ɡəˈʁʏçtn̩] while gezüchtet is [ɡəˈt͡sʏçtət]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gerüchten is recorded at frequency rank #17,912, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈʁʏçtn̩]. gezüchtet is at rank #18,272, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈt͡sʏçtət].

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 36184, this pair ranks #1,621,924 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gerüchten vs gezüchtet

Shared letters: ceghtü. Private to "Gerüchten": nr. Private to "gezüchtet": z.

"Gerüchten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gezüchtet" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gerüchten" for "gezüchtet" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gerüchten" is a noun and "gezüchtet" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gerüchten" or "gezüchtet" show up more?
"Gerüchten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,912 in our German list, against #18,272 for "gezüchtet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gerüchten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gezüchtet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,621,924 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gerüchten" and "gezüchtet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gerichtes vs Gerüchten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,621,924 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