gegebenvsgegebenenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#553
“gegeben” frequency rank
#11,433
“gegebenen” frequency rank
11986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gegeben gegebenen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs geben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gegeben

Where the eye mixes gegeben and gegebenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gegeben runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against gegebenen's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gegeben
9 ch
gegebenen

Why the eye confuses gegeben with gegebenen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gegeben is [ɡəˈɡeːbn̩] while gegebenen is [ɡəˈɡeːbənən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gegeben” sits inside “gegebenen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gegeben is recorded at frequency rank #553, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈɡeːbn̩]. gegebenen is at rank #11,433, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈɡeːbənən].

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 11986, this pair ranks #1,966,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gegeben vs gegebenen

Shared letters: begn. Private to "gegeben": -. Private to "gegebenen": -.

"gegeben" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gegebenen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gegebeneggeben · geegben · gegbeen · gegebben · gegebenn · gegebne · gegeebn · geggeben
  • gegebeneneggebenen · geegbenen · gegbeenen · gegebbenen · gegebeenn · gegebenenn · gegebenne · gegebennen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gegeben" and "gegebenen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gegeben" is a verb and "gegebenen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gegeben" or "gegebenen" show up more?
"gegeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #553 in our German list, against #11,433 for "gegebenen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gegeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gegebenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gegeben" and "gegebenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gegebenem vs gegebenen". 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 #1,966,828 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