GiftevsgiftigTell them apart

Quick tell: Gifte is a noun, giftig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gifte” is a noun and “giftig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,208
“Gifte” frequency rank
#17,599
“giftig” frequency rank
52807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gifte giftig
Definition Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gift gesundheitsschädlich, schadstoffhaltig

Where the eye mixes Gifte and giftig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Gifte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against giftig's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Gifte
6 ch
giftig

Look-alike desk: Gifte vs giftig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gifte is [ˈɡɪftə] while giftig is [ˈɡɪftɪç]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gifte is recorded at frequency rank #35,208, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɪftə]. giftig is at rank #17,599, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɪftɪç].

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 52807, this pair ranks #1,082,523 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gifte vs giftig

Shared letters: fgit. Private to "Gifte": e. Private to "giftig": -.

"Gifte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "giftig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gifte ← gfite · ggifte · gifet · giffte · giftte · gitfe · igfte
  • giftig ← gfitig · ggiftig · gifftig · gifitg · giftgi · giftigg · gifttig · gitfig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Gifte" and "giftig" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gifte" is a noun and "giftig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gifte" or "giftig" show up more?
"giftig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,599 in our German list, against #35,208 for "Gifte". 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 "Gifte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "giftig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,082,523 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gifte" and "giftig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gifte vs Grete". 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 #1,082,523 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