Which to use
“angefangen” is a verb and “angegangen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,098
- “angefangen” frequency rank
- #15,813
- “angegangen” frequency rank
- 17911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | angefangen | angegangen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs anfangen | etwas/teilweise verdorben, im Anfang des Verfaulens/Vergärens, seltener:Verschimmelns begriffen, nicht mehr einwandfrei |
Where the eye mixes angefangen and angegangen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. angefangen and angegangen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between angefangen and angegangen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: angefangen is [ˈanɡəˌfaŋən] while angegangen is [ˈanɡəˌɡaŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “angefangen” becomes g in “angegangen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
angefangen is recorded at frequency rank #2,098, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌfaŋən]. angegangen is at rank #15,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈanɡəˌɡaŋən].
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 17911, this pair ranks #1,923,142 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of angefangen vs angegangen
Shared letters: aegn. Private to "angefangen": f. Private to "angegangen": -.
"angefangen" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC · "angegangen" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- angefangen ← agnefangen · anegfangen · angeafngen · angefagnen · angefanegn · angefangenn · angefanggen · angefangne
- angegangen ← agnegangen · aneggangen · angeagngen · angegagnen · angeganegn · angegangenn · angeganggen · angegangne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "angefangen" and "angegangen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "angefangen" or "angegangen" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "angefangen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "angegangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,923,142 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "angefangen" and "angegangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "angefangen vs angeflogen". 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 #1,923,142 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.