GeschäftvsgescheutTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,731
“Geschäft” frequency rank
#43,915
“gescheut” frequency rank
45646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Geschäft gescheut
Definition gewinnorientierte Unternehmung; kaufmännische Transaktion; Austausch von Gütern und Dienstleistungen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs scheuen

Where the eye mixes Geschäft and gescheut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
Geschäft
8 ch
gescheut

Look-alike desk: Geschäft vs gescheut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Geschäft is [ɡəˈʃɛft] while gescheut is [ɡəˈʃɔɪ̯t]. 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 45646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Geschäft is recorded at frequency rank #1,731, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈʃɛft]. gescheut is at rank #43,915, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃɔɪ̯t].

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 45646, this pair ranks #1,345,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Geschäft vs gescheut

Shared letters: ceghst. Private to "Geschäft": . Private to "gescheut": u.

"Geschäft" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC  ·  "gescheut" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gescheutegscheut · gecsheut · gesccheut · gescehut · geschetu · gescheutt · geschheut · geschuet

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Geschäft" for "gescheut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Geschäft" is a noun and "gescheut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Geschäft" or "gescheut"?
"Geschäft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,731 in our German list, against #43,915 for "gescheut". 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 "Geschäft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gescheut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,345,926 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Geschäft" and "gescheut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gescheut vs geschneit". 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 #1,345,926 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