Which to use
“Gifte” is a noun and “giftige” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,208
- “Gifte” frequency rank
- #22,359
- “giftige” frequency rank
- 57567
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Gifte | giftige |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Gift | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs giftig |
Where the eye mixes Gifte and giftige
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Gifte runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against giftige's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Gifte with giftige
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gifte is [ˈɡɪftə] while giftige is [ˈɡɪftɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 57567, 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]. giftige is at rank #22,359, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɪftɪɡə].
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 57567, this pair ranks #896,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Gifte vs giftige
Shared letters: efgit. Private to "Gifte": -. Private to "giftige": -.
"Gifte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "giftige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Gifte" and "giftige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Gifte" or "giftige" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "giftige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #896,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Gifte" and "giftige" 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 #896,475 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.