gewissvsgewisserWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gewiss is a adverb, gewisser is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gewiss” is an adverb and “gewisser” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,842
“gewiss” frequency rank
#7,055
“gewisser” frequency rank
12897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewiss gewisser
Definition nicht genau bestimmbar oder bestimmt Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gewiss

Where the eye mixes gewiss and gewisser

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gewiss runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against gewisser's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gewiss
8 ch
gewisser

Look-alike desk: gewiss vs gewisser

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gewiss is [ɡəˈvɪs] while gewisser is [ɡəˈvɪsɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gewiss” sits inside “gewisser”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewiss is recorded at frequency rank #5,842, classified as anadv, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪs]. gewisser is at rank #7,055, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪsɐ].

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 12897, this pair ranks #1,961,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gewiss vs gewisser

Shared letters: egisw. Private to "gewiss": -. Private to "gewisser": r.

"gewiss" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gewisser" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewissegwiss · geiwss · gewis · gewiß · gewsis · gewwiss · ggewiss · gweiss
  • gewisseregwisser · geiwsser · gewiser · gewisesr · gewisserr · gewissre · gewißer · gewsiser

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewiss" for "gewisser" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gewiss" is an adverb and "gewisser" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gewiss" vs "gewisser" - which ranks higher?
"gewiss" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,842 in our German list, against #7,055 for "gewisser". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gewiss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewisser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,961,352 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewiss" and "gewisser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs gewiss". 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 #1,961,352 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