GängevsgangsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Gänge is a noun, gangs is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gänge” is a noun and “gangs” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,876
“Gänge” frequency rank
#33,596
“gangs” frequency rank
42472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gänge gangs
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Gang 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gang

Letter map: Gänge vs gangs

Shared letters muted; letters that set Gänge and gangs apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. Gänge (CVCCV) and gangs (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Gänge
5 ch
gangs

Role in the sentence - Gänge and gangs

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Gänge is anoun and gangsaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gänge is recorded at frequency rank #8,876, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɛŋə]. gangs is at rank #33,596, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 42472, this pair ranks #1,448,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gänge vs gangs

Shared letters: gn. Private to "Gänge": eä. Private to "gangs": as.

"Gänge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "gangs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gangs ← agngs · gagns · ganggs · gangss · ganngs · gansg · ggangs · gnags

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Gänge" for "gangs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gänge" is a noun and "gangs" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gänge" or "gangs"?
"Gänge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,876 in our German list, against #33,596 for "gangs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Gänge" vs "gangs" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gänge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gangs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,448,244 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gänge" and "gangs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gangs vs puzzles". 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 #1,448,244 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