gestern

[ˈɡɛstɐn]

/[ˈɡɛstɐn]/ adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“gestern” has 11 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #617. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#617
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag

Corpus desk

Index DE-gestern · gestern · German

gestern · rank #617 · 11 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #617
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH gern

Nearest frequency peer: gern (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „gestern“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „gestern“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

gestern vs Gütern
57% similar
gestern vs gestört
71% similar
gestern vs Göttern
57% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for gestern
PropertyValue
Headwordgestern
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdverb
IPA[ˈɡɛstɐn]
Letters7
Frequency rank#617
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „gestern“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.gesternliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „gern“ (#616), „irgendwie“ (#618), „gekommen“ (#615). Unter 5,117 „G“-Lemmata liegt „gestern“ bei #617. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around gestern (IPA [ˈɡɛstɐn]), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #617 among 5,117 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for gestern, with forms such as "egstern", "gesetrn", and "gesstern". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "Gütern", "gestört", "Göttern", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is gestern, spelled G-E-S-T-E-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag
  2. 2
    vor (nicht allzu) langer Zeit

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how gestern appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Wir haben gestern eine Fahrradtour gemacht.
  2. „Noch gestern Abend war mir ganz gut, meine Eltern wissen es ja, oder besser, schon gestern Abend hatte ich eine kleine Vorahnung.“

Antonyms

heutemorgen

This word in other languages

yesterday(English)ayer(Español)hier(Français)ontem(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • egstern
  • gesetrn
  • gesstern
  • gestenr
  • gesternn
  • gesterrn
  • gestren
  • gesttern
  • getsern
  • ggestern
  • gsetern

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gestern - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

egstern2gesetrn2gesstern1gestenr2gesternn1gesterrn1gestren2gesttern1
Edit distance from "gestern"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gestern"?
"gestern" is spelled G-E-S-T-E-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɡɛstɐn].
What does "gestern" mean?
As an adverb, "gestern" means: am Tag unmittelbar vor dem heutigen Tag
What words are commonly confused with "gestern"?
"gestern" is commonly confused with "Gütern", "gestört", "Göttern". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gestern"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gestern" is [ˈɡɛstɐn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gestern" come from?
"gestern" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gestern", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

anderes#629dagegen#631Meinung#637dadurch#580

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

weiteren11 variantsHamburg11 variantspassiert11 variantsnämlich11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list