Which to use
“gedenken” is a verb and “gehenden” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,708
- “gedenken” frequency rank
- #30,077
- “gehenden” frequency rank
- 35785
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gedenken | gehenden |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | die Erinnerung an jemand oder etwas pflegen, wachhalten | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gehend |
Where the eye mixes gedenken and gehenden
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gedenken and gehenden follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses gedenken with gehenden
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gedenken is [ɡəˈdɛŋkn̩] while gehenden is [ˈɡeːəndn̩]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gedenken is recorded at frequency rank #5,708, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈdɛŋkn̩]. gehenden is at rank #30,077, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡeːəndn̩].
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 35785, this pair ranks #1,631,584 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gedenken vs gehenden
Shared letters: degn. Private to "gedenken": k. Private to "gehenden": h.
"gedenken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "gehenden" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gedenken" for "gehenden" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "gedenken" or "gehenden" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gedenken" and "gehenden" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gedenken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gehenden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,631,584 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gedenken" and "gehenden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehenden 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 #1,631,584 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.