Which to use
“Gurken” is a noun and “guten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,382
- “Gurken” frequency rank
- #330
- “guten” frequency rank
- 15712
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Gurken | guten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Gurke | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut |
Where the eye mixes Gurken and guten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Gurken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against guten's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Gurken with guten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gurken is [ˈɡʊʁkŋ̩] while guten is [ˈɡuːtn̩]. 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 15712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Gurken is recorded at frequency rank #15,382, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʊʁkŋ̩]. guten is at rank #330, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡuːtn̩].
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 15712, this pair ranks #1,941,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Gurken vs guten
Shared letters: egnu. Private to "Gurken": kr. Private to "guten": t.
"Gurken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "guten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Gurken" and "guten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Gurken" or "guten"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Gurken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,941,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Gurken" and "guten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Guben vs Gurken". 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 #1,941,749 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.