Which to use
“gestern” is an adverb and “Göttern” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #617
- “gestern” frequency rank
- #15,650
- “Göttern” frequency rank
- 16267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gestern | Göttern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gott |
Where the eye mixes gestern and Göttern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: gestern vs Göttern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gestern is [ˈɡɛstɐn] while Göttern is [ˈɡœtɐn]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gestern is recorded at frequency rank #617, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛstɐn]. Göttern is at rank #15,650, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡœtɐn].
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 16267, this pair ranks #1,937,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gestern vs Göttern
Shared letters: egnrt. Private to "gestern": s. Private to "Göttern": ö.
"gestern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "Göttern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gestern ← egstern · gesetrn · gesstern · gestenr · gesternn · gesterrn · gestren · gesttern
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gestern" for "Göttern" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "gestern" or "Göttern" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gestern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Göttern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,937,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gestern" and "Göttern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gittern vs Göttern". 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 #1,937,240 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.