gasenvsgatesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,952
“gasen” frequency rank
#12,080
“gates” frequency rank
52032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gasen gates
Definition Gas verlieren, freisetzen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gate

Where the eye mixes gasen and gates

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gasen and gates follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
gasen
5 ch
gates

Why the eye confuses gasen with gates

A purely visual mix-up. gasen ([ˈɡaːzn̩]) and gates ([ɡeɪts]) 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 52032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gasen is recorded at frequency rank #39,952, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡaːzn̩]. gates is at rank #12,080, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡeɪts].

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 52032, this pair ranks #1,112,585 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gasen vs gates

Shared letters: aegs. Private to "gasen": n. Private to "gates": t.

"gasen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gasen ← agsen · gaesn · gasenn · gasne · ggasen · gsaen
  • gates ← agtes · gaets · gatess · gatse · gattes · ggates · gtaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gasen" for "gates" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡaːzn̩] versus [ɡeɪts]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gasen" or "gates"?
"gates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,080 in our German list, against #39,952 for "gasen". 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 "gasen" and "gates" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gasen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,112,585 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gasen" and "gates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gasen vs given". 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 #1,112,585 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