gezieltenvsgezielterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,920
“gezielten” frequency rank
#31,077
“gezielter” frequency rank
48997
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gezielten gezielter
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gezielt Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gezielt

Where the eye mixes gezielten and gezielter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gezielten and gezielter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
gezielten
9 ch
gezielter

Visual trap between gezielten and gezielter

A purely visual mix-up. gezielten ([ɡəˈt͡siːltn̩]) and gezielter ([ɡəˈt͡siːltɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “gezielten” becomes r in “gezielter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gezielten is recorded at frequency rank #17,920, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈt͡siːltn̩]. gezielter is at rank #31,077, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈt͡siːltɐ].

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 48997, this pair ranks #1,227,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gezielten vs gezielter

Shared letters: egiltz. Private to "gezielten": n. Private to "gezielter": r.

"gezielten" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC  ·  "gezielter" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gezielten ← egzielten · geizelten · gezeilten · gezieletn · geziellten · gezieltenn · gezieltne · gezieltten
  • gezielter ← egzielter · geizelter · gezeilter · gezieletr · geziellter · gezielterr · gezieltre · gezieltter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gezielten" for "gezielter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈt͡siːltn̩] versus [ɡəˈt͡siːltɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gezielten" vs "gezielter" - which ranks higher?
"gezielten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,920 in our German list, against #31,077 for "gezielter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gezielten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gezielter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,227,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gezielten" and "gezielter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gezielter vs gezieltes". 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 #1,227,822 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