gebotenvsgeboteneTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,039
“geboten” frequency rank
#47,416
“gebotene” frequency rank
51455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geboten gebotene
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs bieten Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geboten

Where the eye mixes geboten and gebotene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. geboten runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against gebotene's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
geboten
8 ch
gebotene

Visual trap between geboten and gebotene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geboten is [ɡəˈboːtn̩] while gebotene is [ɡəˈboːtənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “geboten” sits inside “gebotene”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geboten is recorded at frequency rank #4,039, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈboːtn̩]. gebotene is at rank #47,416, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈboːtənə].

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 51455, this pair ranks #1,134,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geboten vs gebotene

Shared letters: begnot. Private to "geboten": -. Private to "gebotene": -.

"geboten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gebotene" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geboten ← egboten · gbeoten · gebboten · geboetn · gebotenn · gebotne · gebotten · gebtoen
  • gebotene ← egbotene · gbeotene · gebbotene · geboetne · geboteen · gebotnee · gebottene · gebtoene

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "geboten" for "gebotene" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geboten" is a verb and "gebotene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "geboten" or "gebotene"?
"geboten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,039 in our German list, against #47,416 for "gebotene". 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 "geboten" and "gebotene" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geboten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebotene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,134,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geboten" and "gebotene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebogene vs gebotene". 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 #1,134,912 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