gedehntvsgedenktWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gedehnt is a adjective, gedenkt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#49,699
“gedehnt” frequency rank
#23,141
“gedenkt” frequency rank
72840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gedehnt gedenkt
Definition zeitlich: etwas, was sich in die Länge zieht, was lange dauert 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gedenken

Where the eye mixes gedehnt and gedenkt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gedehnt and gedenkt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
gedehnt
7 ch
gedenkt

Visual trap between gedehnt and gedenkt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gedehnt is [ɡəˈdeːnt] while gedenkt is [ɡəˈdɛŋkt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gedehnt is recorded at frequency rank #49,699, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈdeːnt]. gedenkt is at rank #23,141, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈdɛŋkt].

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 72840, this pair ranks #377,110 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gedehnt vs gedenkt

Shared letters: degnt. Private to "gedehnt": h. Private to "gedenkt": k.

"gedehnt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "gedenkt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gedehntegdehnt · gdeehnt · geddehnt · gedehhnt · gedehnnt · gedehntt · gedehtn · gedenht
  • gedenktegdenkt · gdeenkt · geddenkt · gedeknt · gedenkkt · gedenktt · gedennkt · gedentk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gedehnt" and "gedenkt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gedehnt" is an adjective and "gedenkt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gedehnt" vs "gedenkt" - which ranks higher?
"gedenkt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,141 in our German list, against #49,699 for "gedehnt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gedehnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gedenkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #377,110 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gedehnt" and "gedenkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gedehnt vs gelehnt". 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 #377,110 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