GesellevsGesetzeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,082
“Geselle” frequency rank
#2,341
“Gesetze” frequency rank
35423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Geselle Gesetze
Definition Handwerker, der die Gesellenprüfung erfolgreich abgeschlossen hat Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gesetz

Where the eye mixes Geselle and Gesetze

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Geselle and Gesetze follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
Geselle
7 ch
Gesetze

Look-alike desk: Geselle vs Gesetze

A purely visual mix-up. Geselle ([ɡəˈzɛlə]) and Gesetze ([ɡəˈzɛt͡sə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Geselle is recorded at frequency rank #33,082, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛlə]. Gesetze is at rank #2,341, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛt͡sə].

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 35423, this pair ranks #1,640,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Geselle vs Gesetze

Shared letters: egs. Private to "Geselle": l. Private to "Gesetze": tz.

"Geselle" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "Gesetze" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Geselle ← egselle · geeslle · gesele · geselel · geslele · gesselle · ggeselle · gseelle
  • Gesetze ← egsetze · geestze · gesetez · gesettze · gesetzze · gesezte · gessetze · gesteze

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Geselle" and "Gesetze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈzɛlə] versus [ɡəˈzɛt͡sə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Geselle" vs "Gesetze" - which ranks higher?
"Gesetze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,341 in our German list, against #33,082 for "Geselle". 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 "Geselle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gesetze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,640,371 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Geselle" and "Gesetze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gesell vs Geselle". 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 #1,640,371 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