giftigevsgültigeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,359
“giftige” frequency rank
#11,666
“gültige” frequency rank
34025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature giftige gültige
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs giftig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gültig

Where the eye mixes giftige and gültige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. giftige and gültige follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
giftige
7 ch
gültige

Look-alike desk: giftige vs gültige

A purely visual mix-up. giftige ([ˈɡɪftɪɡə]) and gültige ([ˈɡʏltɪɡə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

giftige is recorded at frequency rank #22,359, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡɪftɪɡə]. gültige is at rank #11,666, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʏltɪɡə].

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 34025, this pair ranks #1,672,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of giftige vs gültige

Shared letters: egit. Private to "giftige": f. Private to "gültige": lü.

"giftige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "gültige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • giftige ← gfitige · ggiftige · gifftige · gifitge · giftgie · giftieg · giftigge · gifttige

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "giftige" for "gültige" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡɪftɪɡə] versus [ˈɡʏltɪɡə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "giftige" vs "gültige" - which ranks higher?
"gültige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,666 in our German list, against #22,359 for "giftige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "giftige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gültige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,672,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "giftige" and "gültige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "giftige vs giftiger". 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 #1,672,676 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