gestehevsgesternConfusable pair

Quick tell: gestehe is a verb, gestern is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gestehe” is a verb and “gestern” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,572
“gestehe” frequency rank
#617
“gestern” frequency rank
26189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gestehe gestern
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gestehen am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag

Where the eye mixes gestehe and gestern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gestehe
7 ch
gestern

Visual trap between gestehe and gestern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gestehe is [ɡəˈʃteːə] while gestern is [ˈɡɛstɐn]. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gestehe is recorded at frequency rank #25,572, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃteːə]. gestern is at rank #617, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛstɐn].

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 26189, this pair ranks #1,821,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gestehe vs gestern

Shared letters: egst. Private to "gestehe": h. Private to "gestern": nr.

"gestehe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "gestern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesteheegstehe · gesethe · gesstehe · gesteeh · gestehhe · gesthee · gesttehe · getsehe
  • gesternegstern · gesetrn · gesstern · gestenr · gesternn · gesterrn · gestren · gesttern

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gestehe" and "gestern" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gestehe" is a verb and "gestern" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gestehe" vs "gestern" - which ranks higher?
"gestern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #617 in our German list, against #25,572 for "gestehe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gestehe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gestern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,821,832 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gestehe" and "gestern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gestehe vs Gesteine". 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 #1,821,832 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