gebissenvsgewissemWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#18,553
“gebissen” frequency rank
#34,130
“gewissem” frequency rank
52683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebissen gewissem
Definition [1] Partizip Perfekt des Verbs beißen Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewiss

Where the eye mixes gebissen and gewissem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gebissen and gewissem follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
gebissen
8 ch
gewissem

Why the eye confuses gebissen with gewissem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebissen is [ɡəˈbɪsn̩] while gewissem is [ɡəˈvɪsəm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebissen is recorded at frequency rank #18,553, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbɪsn̩]. gewissem is at rank #34,130, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɪsəm].

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 52683, this pair ranks #1,087,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebissen vs gewissem

Shared letters: egis. Private to "gebissen": bn. Private to "gewissem": mw.

"gebissen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gewissem" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebissenegbissen · gbeissen · gebbissen · gebisen · gebisesn · gebissenn · gebissne · gebißen
  • gewissemegwissem · geiwssem · gewisem · gewisesm · gewissemm · gewissme · gewißem · gewsisem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gebissen" and "gewissem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebissen" is a verb and "gewissem" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gebissen" vs "gewissem" - which ranks higher?
"gebissen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,553 in our German list, against #34,130 for "gewissem". 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 "gebissen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewissem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,087,323 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebissen" and "gewissem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewiesen vs gewissem". 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 #1,087,323 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