gefielenvsgenialenTell them apart

Quick tell: gefielen is a verb, genialen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,956
“gefielen” frequency rank
#17,908
“genialen” frequency rank
57864
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gefielen genialen
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gefallen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs genial

Where the eye mixes gefielen and genialen

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

8 ch
gefielen
8 ch
genialen

Look-alike desk: gefielen vs genialen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gefielen is [ɡəˈfiːlən] while genialen is [ɡeˈni̯aːlən]. 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 57864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gefielen is recorded at frequency rank #39,956, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈfiːlən]. genialen is at rank #17,908, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡeˈni̯aːlən].

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 57864, this pair ranks #884,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gefielen vs genialen

Shared letters: egiln. Private to "gefielen": f. Private to "genialen": a.

"gefielen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "genialen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gefielenegfielen · gefeilen · geffielen · gefieeln · gefielenn · gefiellen · gefielne · gefileen
  • genialenegnialen · geinalen · genailen · geniaeln · genialenn · geniallen · genialne · genilaen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gefielen" for "genialen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gefielen" is a verb and "genialen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gefielen" vs "genialen" - which ranks higher?
"genialen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,908 in our German list, against #39,956 for "gefielen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gefielen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "genialen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #884,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gefielen" and "genialen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gefielen vs Gefilden". 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 #884,811 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