gläubigvsGläubigeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gläubig is a adjective, Gläubige is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#27,330
“gläubig” frequency rank
#15,111
“Gläubige” frequency rank
42441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gläubig Gläubige
Definition vertrauensvoll weibliche Person, die gläubig ist

Where the eye mixes gläubig and Gläubige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gläubig runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against Gläubige's 8 (CCVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gläubig
8 ch
Gläubige

Visual trap between gläubig and Gläubige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gläubig is [ˈɡlɔɪ̯bɪç] while Gläubige is [ˈɡlɔɪ̯bɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gläubig” sits inside “Gläubige”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gläubig is recorded at frequency rank #27,330, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡlɔɪ̯bɪç]. Gläubige is at rank #15,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡlɔɪ̯bɪɡə].

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 42441, this pair ranks #1,449,174 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gläubig vs Gläubige

Shared letters: bgiluä. Private to "gläubig": -. Private to "Gläubige": e.

"gläubig" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "Gläubige" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gläubig" and "Gläubige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gläubig" is an adjective and "Gläubige" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gläubig" or "Gläubige" show up more?
"Gläubige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,111 in our German list, against #27,330 for "gläubig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gläubig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gläubige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,449,174 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gläubig" and "Gläubige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geläufig vs gläubig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,449,174 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