Which to use
“gedehnt” is an adjective and “gelehnt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,699
- “gedehnt” frequency rank
- #47,430
- “gelehnt” frequency rank
- 97129
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gedehnt | gelehnt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zeitlich: etwas, was sich in die Länge zieht, was lange dauert | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs lehnen |
Where the eye mixes gedehnt and gelehnt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gedehnt and gelehnt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between gedehnt and gelehnt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gedehnt is [ɡəˈdeːnt] while gelehnt is [ɡəˈleːnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “gedehnt” becomes l in “gelehnt”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 97129, 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]. gelehnt is at rank #47,430, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈleːnt].
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 97129, this pair ranks #4,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gedehnt vs gelehnt
Shared letters: eghnt. Private to "gedehnt": d. Private to "gelehnt": l.
"gedehnt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC · "gelehnt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gedehnt" and "gelehnt" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "gedehnt" or "gelehnt" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gedehnt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gelehnt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gedehnt" and "gelehnt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geleakt 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 #4,784 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.