gebundenvsgebundeneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,610
“gebunden” frequency rank
#21,979
“gebundene” frequency rank
26589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebunden gebundene
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs binden Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gebunden

Where the eye mixes gebunden and gebundene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gebunden runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against gebundene's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gebunden
9 ch
gebundene

Look-alike desk: gebunden vs gebundene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebunden is [ɡəˈbʊndn̩] while gebundene is [ɡəˈbʊndənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gebunden” sits inside “gebundene”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebunden is recorded at frequency rank #4,610, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbʊndn̩]. gebundene is at rank #21,979, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈbʊndənə].

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 26589, this pair ranks #1,815,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebunden vs gebundene

Shared letters: bdegnu. Private to "gebunden": -. Private to "gebundene": -.

"gebunden" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gebundene" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebunden ← egbunden · gbeunden · gebbunden · gebnuden · gebudnen · gebundden · gebundenn · gebundne
  • gebundene ← egbundene · gbeundene · gebbundene · gebnudene · gebudnene · gebunddene · gebundeen · gebundenne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gebunden" and "gebundene" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebunden" is a verb and "gebundene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gebunden" vs "gebundene" - which ranks higher?
"gebunden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,610 in our German list, against #21,979 for "gebundene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebunden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gebundene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,815,725 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebunden" and "gebundene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebundene vs Gemünden". 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 #1,815,725 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