gedehntvsgemeintTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#49,699
“gedehnt” frequency rank
#1,884
“gemeint” frequency rank
51583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gedehnt gemeint
Definition zeitlich: etwas, was sich in die Länge zieht, was lange dauert Partizip Perfekt des Verbs meinen

Where the eye mixes gedehnt and gemeint

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gedehnt (CVCVCCC) and gemeint (CVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
gedehnt
7 ch
gemeint

Visual trap between gedehnt and gemeint

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gedehnt is [ɡəˈdeːnt] while gemeint is [ɡəˈmaɪ̯nt]. 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 51583, 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]. gemeint is at rank #1,884, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈmaɪ̯nt].

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 51583, this pair ranks #1,129,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gedehnt vs gemeint

Shared letters: egnt. Private to "gedehnt": dh. Private to "gemeint": im.

"gedehnt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "gemeint" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gedehnt ← egdehnt · gdeehnt · geddehnt · gedehhnt · gedehnnt · gedehntt · gedehtn · gedenht
  • gemeint ← egmeint · geemint · gemeinnt · gemeintt · gemeitn · gemenit · gemient · gemmeint

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gedehnt" and "gemeint" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gedehnt" is an adjective and "gemeint" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gedehnt" vs "gemeint" - which ranks higher?
"gemeint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,884 in our German list, against #49,699 for "gedehnt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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 "gemeint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,129,918 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gedehnt" and "gemeint" 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 #1,129,918 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