gebärenvsgebautenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gebären is a verb, gebauten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gebären” is a verb and “gebauten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,736
“gebären” frequency rank
#16,158
“gebauten” frequency rank
43894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebären gebauten
Definition ein Kind zur Welt bringen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebaut

Where the eye mixes gebären and gebauten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gebären
8 ch
gebauten

Visual trap between gebären and gebauten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebären is [ɡəˈbɛːʁən] while gebauten is [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tn̩]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebären is recorded at frequency rank #27,736, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbɛːʁən]. gebauten is at rank #16,158, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbaʊ̯tn̩].

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 43894, this pair ranks #1,403,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebären vs gebauten

Shared letters: begn. Private to "gebären": . Private to "gebauten": atu.

"gebären" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gebauten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebautenegbauten · gbeauten · geabuten · gebatuen · gebauetn · gebautenn · gebautne · gebautten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gebären" and "gebauten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebären" is a verb and "gebauten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gebären" or "gebauten" show up more?
"gebauten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,158 in our German list, against #27,736 for "gebären". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebären" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebauten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,403,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebären" and "gebauten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geballten vs gebauten". 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 #1,403,583 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