gegangenevsGesängenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gegangene is a adjective, Gesängen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gegangene” is an adjective and “Gesängen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,915
“gegangene” frequency rank
#45,984
“Gesängen” frequency rank
94899
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gegangene Gesängen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gegangen Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gesang

Where the eye mixes gegangene and Gesängen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gegangene runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against Gesängen's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
gegangene
8 ch
Gesängen

Visual trap between gegangene and Gesängen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gegangene is [ɡəˈɡaŋənə] while Gesängen is [ɡəˈzɛŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gegangene is recorded at frequency rank #48,915, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈɡaŋənə]. Gesängen is at rank #45,984, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛŋən].

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 94899, this pair ranks #14,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gegangene vs Gesängen

Shared letters: egn. Private to "gegangene": a. Private to "Gesängen": .

"gegangene" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV  ·  "Gesängen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gegangeneeggangene · geagngene · gegagnene · geganegne · gegangeen · geganggene · gegangnee · geganngene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gegangene" and "Gesängen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gegangene" is an adjective and "Gesängen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gegangene" vs "Gesängen" - which ranks higher?
"Gesängen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,984 in our German list, against #48,915 for "gegangene". 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 "gegangene" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gesängen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,285 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gegangene" and "Gesängen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gegangene vs gehangen". 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 #14,285 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