eingefangenvseingegangenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#16,967
“eingefangen” frequency rank
#5,257
“eingegangen” frequency rank
22224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eingefangen eingegangen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs einfangen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs eingehen

Where the eye mixes eingefangen and eingegangen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. eingefangen and eingegangen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCCVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
eingefangen
11 ch
eingegangen

Visual trap between eingefangen and eingegangen

A purely visual mix-up. eingefangen ([ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌfaŋən]) and eingegangen ([ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌɡaŋən]) 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 a single letter - f in “eingefangen” becomes g in “eingegangen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eingefangen is recorded at frequency rank #16,967, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌfaŋən]. eingegangen is at rank #5,257, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌɡaŋən].

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 22224, this pair ranks #1,876,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eingefangen vs eingegangen

Shared letters: aegin. Private to "eingefangen": f. Private to "eingegangen": -.

"eingefangen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC  ·  "eingegangen" · 11 letters · shape VVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eingefangen ← eignefangen · einegfangen · eingeafngen · eingefagnen · eingefanegn · eingefangenn · eingefanggen · eingefangne
  • eingegangen ← eignegangen · eineggangen · eingeagngen · eingegagnen · eingeganegn · eingegangenn · eingeganggen · eingegangne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eingefangen" and "eingegangen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌfaŋən] versus [ˈaɪ̯nɡəˌɡaŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "eingefangen" or "eingegangen" show up more?
"eingegangen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,257 in our German list, against #16,967 for "eingefangen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eingefangen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eingegangen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,876,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eingefangen" and "eingegangen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eingefangen vs eingeflogen". 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 #1,876,797 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