gestürztvsgestütztTell them apart

Quick tell: gestürzt is a verb, gestützt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gestürzt” is a verb and “gestützt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,917
“gestürzt” frequency rank
#12,087
“gestützt” frequency rank
22004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gestürzt gestützt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs stürzen auf etwas beruhend, etwas als Grundlage nutzend, durch etwas ermöglicht werdend

Where the eye mixes gestürzt and gestützt

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

8 ch
gestürzt
8 ch
gestützt

Visual trap between gestürzt and gestützt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gestürzt is [ɡəˈʃtʏʁt͡st] while gestützt is [ɡəˈʃtʏt͡st]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “gestürzt” becomes t in “gestützt”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gestürzt is recorded at frequency rank #9,917, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtʏʁt͡st]. gestützt is at rank #12,087, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtʏt͡st].

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 22004, this pair ranks #1,879,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gestürzt vs gestützt

Shared letters: egstzü. Private to "gestürzt": r. Private to "gestützt": -.

"gestürzt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC  ·  "gestützt" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gestürzt" for "gestützt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gestürzt" is a verb and "gestützt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gestürzt" or "gestützt" show up more?
"gestürzt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,917 in our German list, against #12,087 for "gestützt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gestürzt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gestützt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,879,509 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gestürzt" and "gestützt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gestürzt vs gewürzt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,879,509 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