durchgehenvsdurchlebenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,215
“durchgehen” frequency rank
#40,488
“durchleben” frequency rank
51703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature durchgehen durchleben
Definition sich durch etwas hindurch bewegen einen bestimmten Zeitraum, ein bestimmtes Erlebnis mit allen Sinnen erfahren

Where the eye mixes durchgehen and durchleben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. durchgehen and durchleben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
durchgehen
10 ch
durchleben

Visual trap between durchgehen and durchleben

A purely visual mix-up. durchgehen ([ˈdʊʁçˌɡeːən]) and durchleben ([ˌdʊʁçˈleːbn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

durchgehen is recorded at frequency rank #11,215, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊʁçˌɡeːən]. durchleben is at rank #40,488, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˌdʊʁçˈleːbn̩].

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 51703, this pair ranks #1,125,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of durchgehen vs durchleben

Shared letters: cdehnru. Private to "durchgehen": g. Private to "durchleben": bl.

"durchgehen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC  ·  "durchleben" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • durchgehen ← ddurchgehen · druchgehen · ducrhgehen · durcchgehen · durcghehen · durcheghen · durchgeehn · durchgehenn
  • durchleben ← ddurchleben · druchleben · ducrhleben · durcchleben · durchelben · durchhleben · durchlbeen · durchlebben

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "durchgehen" and "durchleben" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʊʁçˌɡeːən] versus [ˌdʊʁçˈleːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "durchgehen" or "durchleben"?
"durchgehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,215 in our German list, against #40,488 for "durchleben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "durchgehen" and "durchleben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "durchgehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durchleben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,125,328 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "durchgehen" and "durchleben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "durchleben vs durchlebt". 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 #1,125,328 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