gutevsgutenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#226
“gute” frequency rank
#330
“guten” frequency rank
556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gute guten
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gut

Where the eye mixes gute and guten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gute
5 ch
guten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gute ([ˈɡuːtə]) and guten ([ˈɡuːtn̩]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “gute” sits inside “guten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gute is recorded at frequency rank #226, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡuːtə]. 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 556, this pair ranks #2,005,694 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gute vs guten

Shared letters: egtu. Private to "gute": -. Private to "guten": n.

"gute" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "guten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • guteggute · gtue · guet · gutte · ugte
  • gutengguten · gtuen · guetn · gutenn · gutne · gutten · ugten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gute" and "guten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡuːtə] versus [ˈɡuːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gute" or "guten"?
"gute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #226 in our German list, against #330 for "guten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "gute" and "guten". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gute" 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 #2,005,694 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gute" and "guten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "given vs guten". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list