gasenvsgebenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,952
“gasen” frequency rank
#229
“geben” frequency rank
40181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gasen geben
Definition Gas verlieren, freisetzen jemandem etwas reichen beziehungsweise in die Nähe oder Hände legen

Where the eye mixes gasen and geben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gasen and geben 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
geben

Why the eye confuses gasen with geben

A purely visual mix-up. gasen ([ˈɡaːzn̩]) and geben ([ˈɡeːbn̩]) 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 40181, 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]. geben is at rank #229, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːbn̩].

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 40181, this pair ranks #1,515,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gasen vs geben

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gasen": as. Private to "geben": b.

"gasen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "geben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gasen ← agsen · gaesn · gasenn · gasne · ggasen · gsaen
  • geben ← egben · gbeen · gebben · gebenn · gebne · geebn · ggeben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gasen" for "geben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡaːzn̩] versus [ˈɡeːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gasen" vs "geben" - which ranks higher?
"geben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #229 in our German list, against #39,952 for "gasen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gasen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,515,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gasen" and "geben" 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 #1,515,797 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