gestorbenvsgestörtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,420
“gestorben” frequency rank
#35,802
“gestörten” frequency rank
37222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gestorben gestörten
Definition nicht mehr lebend, verstorben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gestört

Where the eye mixes gestorben and gestörten

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

9 ch
gestorben
9 ch
gestörten

Visual trap between gestorben and gestörten

A purely visual mix-up. gestorben ([ɡəˈʃtɔʁbn̩]) and gestörten ([ɡəˈʃtøːɐ̯tn̩]) 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 37222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gestorben is recorded at frequency rank #1,420, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtɔʁbn̩]. gestörten is at rank #35,802, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtøːɐ̯tn̩].

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 37222, this pair ranks #1,595,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gestorben vs gestörten

Shared letters: egnrst. Private to "gestorben": bo. Private to "gestörten": ö.

"gestorben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "gestörten" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gestorben ← egstorben · gesotrben · gesstorben · gestobren · gestorbben · gestorbenn · gestorbne · gestorebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gestorben" for "gestörten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈʃtɔʁbn̩] versus [ɡəˈʃtøːɐ̯tn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gestorben" or "gestörten" show up more?
"gestorben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,420 in our German list, against #35,802 for "gestörten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gestorben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gestörten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,595,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gestorben" and "gestörten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gestörte vs gestörten". 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 #1,595,749 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