gutvsgutemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#89
“gut” frequency rank
#4,125
“gutem” frequency rank
4214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gut gutem
Definition vom Menschen her positiv bewertet, empfunden, gefühlt und dergleichen Dativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut

Where the eye mixes gut and gutem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gut runs 3 letters (CVC) against gutem's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
gut
5 ch
gutem

Look-alike desk: gut vs gutem

A purely visual mix-up. gut ([ɡuːt]) and gutem ([ˈɡuːtəm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gut” sits inside “gutem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gut is recorded at frequency rank #89, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡuːt]. gutem is at rank #4,125, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡuːtəm].

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 4214, this pair ranks #1,998,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gut vs gutem

Shared letters: gtu. Private to "gut": -. Private to "gutem": em.

"gut" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "gutem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gutem ← ggutem · gtuem · guetm · gutemm · gutme · guttem · ugtem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gut" and "gutem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡuːt] versus [ˈɡuːtəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gut" vs "gutem" - which ranks higher?
"gut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #89 in our German list, against #4,125 for "gutem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gutem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,287 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gut" and "gutem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs gut". 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 #1,998,287 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