gebliebenvsgebliebeneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,026
“geblieben” frequency rank
#32,546
“gebliebene” frequency rank
34572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geblieben gebliebene
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bleiben Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geblieben

Where the eye mixes geblieben and gebliebene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. geblieben runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCVC) against gebliebene's 10 (CVCCVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
geblieben
10 ch
gebliebene

Why the eye confuses geblieben with gebliebene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geblieben is [ɡəˈbliːbn̩] while gebliebene is [ɡəˈbliːbənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “geblieben” sits inside “gebliebene”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geblieben is recorded at frequency rank #2,026, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbliːbn̩]. gebliebene is at rank #32,546, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbliːbənə].

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 34572, this pair ranks #1,660,186 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geblieben vs gebliebene

Shared letters: begiln. Private to "geblieben": -. Private to "gebliebene": -.

"geblieben" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "gebliebene" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geblieben ← egblieben · gbelieben · gebblieben · gebileben · gebleiben · geblibeen · gebliebben · gebliebenn
  • gebliebene ← egbliebene · gbeliebene · gebbliebene · gebilebene · gebleibene · geblibeene · gebliebbene · gebliebeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geblieben" and "gebliebene" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geblieben" is a verb and "gebliebene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "geblieben" vs "gebliebene" - which ranks higher?
"geblieben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,026 in our German list, against #32,546 for "gebliebene". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geblieben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebliebene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,660,186 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geblieben" and "gebliebene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebliebene vs gebliebenen". 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 #1,660,186 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