gebrauchtvsgebrauchtenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,107
“gebraucht” frequency rank
#14,570
“gebrauchten” frequency rank
16677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebraucht gebrauchten
Definition bereits verwendet, nicht neu Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gebraucht

Where the eye mixes gebraucht and gebrauchten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. gebraucht runs 9 letters (CVCCVVCCC) against gebrauchten's 11 (CVCCVVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
gebraucht
11 ch
gebrauchten

Why the eye confuses gebraucht with gebrauchten

A purely visual mix-up. gebraucht ([ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt]) and gebrauchten ([ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gebraucht” sits inside “gebrauchten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebraucht is recorded at frequency rank #2,107, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt]. gebrauchten is at rank #14,570, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xtn̩].

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 16677, this pair ranks #1,933,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebraucht vs gebrauchten

Shared letters: abceghrtu. Private to "gebraucht": -. Private to "gebrauchten": n.

"gebraucht" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCCC  ·  "gebrauchten" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebraucht ← egbraucht · gberaucht · gebarucht · gebbraucht · gebracuht · gebrauccht · gebrauchht · gebrauchtt
  • gebrauchten ← egbrauchten · gberauchten · gebaruchten · gebbrauchten · gebracuhten · gebraucchten · gebrauchetn · gebrauchhten

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gebraucht" and "gebrauchten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xt] versus [ɡəˈbʁaʊ̯xtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gebraucht" vs "gebrauchten" - which ranks higher?
"gebraucht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,107 in our German list, against #14,570 for "gebrauchten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebraucht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebrauchten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,933,881 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebraucht" and "gebrauchten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebrachte vs gebrauchten". 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 #1,933,881 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