gasenvsGrauenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,952
“gasen” frequency rank
#6,196
“Grauen” frequency rank
46148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gasen Grauen
Definition Gas verlieren, freisetzen Gefühl der Furcht, des Entsetzens aufgrund von etwas Bedrohlichem

Where the eye mixes gasen and Grauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gasen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Grauen's 6 (CCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
gasen
6 ch
Grauen

Look-alike desk: gasen vs Grauen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gasen is [ˈɡaːzn̩] while Grauen is [ˈɡʁaʊ̯ən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46148, 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]. Grauen is at rank #6,196, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁaʊ̯ən].

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 46148, this pair ranks #1,328,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gasen vs Grauen

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "gasen": s. Private to "Grauen": ru.

"gasen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Grauen" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gasen ← agsen · gaesn · gasenn · gasne · ggasen · gsaen
  • Grauen ← garuen · ggrauen · graeun · grauenn · graune · grrauen · gruaen · rgauen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gasen" and "Grauen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gasen" is a verb and "Grauen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gasen" or "Grauen" show up more?
"Grauen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,196 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.

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 "Grauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,328,989 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gasen" and "Grauen" 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 #1,328,989 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