gebärenvsgehauenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,736
“gebären” frequency rank
#17,907
“gehauen” frequency rank
45643
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebären gehauen
Definition ein Kind zur Welt bringen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs hauen

Where the eye mixes gebären and gehauen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gebären (CVCVCVC) and gehauen (CVCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
gebären
7 ch
gehauen

Visual trap between gebären and gehauen

A purely visual mix-up. gebären ([ɡəˈbɛːʁən]) and gehauen ([ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45643, 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]. gehauen is at rank #17,907, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən].

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 45643, this pair ranks #1,346,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebären vs gehauen

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gebären": brä. Private to "gehauen": ahu.

"gebären" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gehauen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehaueneghauen · geahuen · gehaeun · gehauenn · gehaune · gehhauen · gehuaen · ggehauen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebären" for "gehauen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbɛːʁən] versus [ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gebären" or "gehauen"?
"gehauen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,907 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.

Useful next steps

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 "gehauen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,346,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebären" and "gehauen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehauen vs Gehäuses". 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 #1,346,019 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