gebetenvsgenesenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,188
“gebeten” frequency rank
#28,678
“genesen” frequency rank
31866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebeten genesen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bitten wieder gesund werden

Where the eye mixes gebeten and genesen

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

7 ch
gebeten
7 ch
genesen

Why the eye confuses gebeten with genesen

A purely visual mix-up. gebeten ([ɡəˈbeːtn̩]) and genesen ([ɡəˈneːzn̩]) 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 31866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebeten is recorded at frequency rank #3,188, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbeːtn̩]. genesen is at rank #28,678, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈneːzn̩].

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 31866, this pair ranks #1,719,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebeten vs genesen

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gebeten": bt. Private to "genesen": s.

"gebeten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "genesen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebetenegbeten · gbeeten · gebbeten · gebeetn · gebetenn · gebetne · gebetten · gebteen
  • genesenegnesen · geensen · geneesn · genesenn · genesne · genessen · gennesen · genseen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebeten" for "genesen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbeːtn̩] versus [ɡəˈneːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gebeten" or "genesen"?
"gebeten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,188 in our German list, against #28,678 for "genesen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebeten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "genesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,719,450 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebeten" and "genesen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Genese vs genesen". 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 #1,719,450 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