gebanntvsgepenntWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#11,239
“gebannt” frequency rank
#41,193
“gepennt” frequency rank
52432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebannt gepennt
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bannen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs pennen

Where the eye mixes gebannt and gepennt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gebannt and gepennt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
gebannt
7 ch
gepennt

Visual trap between gebannt and gepennt

A purely visual mix-up. gebannt ([ɡəˈbant]) and gepennt ([ɡəˈpɛnt]) 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 52432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebannt is recorded at frequency rank #11,239, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbant]. gepennt is at rank #41,193, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈpɛnt].

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 52432, this pair ranks #1,097,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebannt vs gepennt

Shared letters: egnt. Private to "gebannt": ab. Private to "gepennt": p.

"gebannt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "gepennt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebanntegbannt · gbeannt · geabnnt · gebanntt · gebant · gebantn · gebbannt · gebnant
  • gepenntegpennt · geepnnt · gepenntt · gepent · gepentn · gepnent · geppennt · ggepennt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gebannt" and "gepennt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbant] versus [ɡəˈpɛnt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gebannt" or "gepennt"?
"gebannt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,239 in our German list, against #41,193 for "gepennt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebannt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gepennt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,097,236 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebannt" and "gepennt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gedehnt vs gepennt". 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 #1,097,236 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