gebrachtevsgebrauchtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,954
“gebrachte” frequency rank
#2,107
“gebraucht” frequency rank
48061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebrachte gebraucht
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebracht bereits verwendet, nicht neu

Where the eye mixes gebrachte and gebraucht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gebrachte (CVCCVCCCV) and gebraucht (CVCCVVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
gebrachte
9 ch
gebraucht

Why the eye confuses gebrachte with gebraucht

A purely visual mix-up. gebrachte ([ɡəˈbʁaxtə]) and gebraucht ([ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt]) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebrachte is recorded at frequency rank #45,954, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbʁaxtə]. gebraucht is at rank #2,107, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt].

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 48061, this pair ranks #1,262,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebrachte vs gebraucht

Shared letters: abceghrt. Private to "gebrachte": -. Private to "gebraucht": u.

"gebrachte" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCCV  ·  "gebraucht" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebrachte ← egbrachte · gberachte · gebarchte · gebbrachte · gebracchte · gebrachet · gebrachhte · gebrachtte
  • gebraucht ← egbraucht · gberaucht · gebarucht · gebbraucht · gebracuht · gebrauccht · gebrauchht · gebrauchtt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebrachte" for "gebraucht" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbʁaxtə] versus [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gebrachte" or "gebraucht"?
"gebraucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,107 in our German list, against #45,954 for "gebrachte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebrachte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebraucht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,262,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebrachte" and "gebraucht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebrachte vs gebrachten". 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 #1,262,220 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