gefährdenvsgefährdetTell them apart

Which to use

“gefährden” and “gefährdet” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,611
“gefährden” frequency rank
#4,349
“gefährdet” frequency rank
11960
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gefährden gefährdet
Definition in Gefahr bringen oder überlassen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs gefährden

Where the eye mixes gefährden and gefährdet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gefährden and gefährdet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
gefährden
9 ch
gefährdet

Visual trap between gefährden and gefährdet

A purely visual mix-up. gefährden ([ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dn̩]) and gefährdet ([ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dət]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “gefährden” becomes t in “gefährdet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11960, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gefährden is recorded at frequency rank #7,611, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dn̩]. gefährdet is at rank #4,349, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dət].

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 11960, this pair ranks #1,966,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gefährden vs gefährdet

Shared letters: defghrä. Private to "gefährden": n. Private to "gefährdet": t.

"gefährden" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gefährdet" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gefährden" and "gefährdet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dn̩] versus [ɡəˈfɛːɐ̯dət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gefährden" or "gefährdet" show up more?
"gefährdet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,349 in our German list, against #7,611 for "gefährden". 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 "gefährden" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gefährdet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,980 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gefährden" and "gefährdet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefährden vs gefahrenen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,966,980 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