gehabtvsgemähtTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,079
“gehabt” frequency rank
#47,435
“gemäht” frequency rank
48514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehabt gemäht
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs haben Partizip Perfekt des Verbs mähen

Where the eye mixes gehabt and gemäht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gehabt and gemäht follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
gehabt
6 ch
gemäht

Why the eye confuses gehabt with gemäht

A purely visual mix-up. gehabt ([ɡəˈhaːpt]) and gemäht ([ɡəˈmɛːt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehabt is recorded at frequency rank #1,079, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhaːpt]. gemäht is at rank #47,435, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈmɛːt].

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 48514, this pair ranks #1,245,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gehabt vs gemäht

Shared letters: eght. Private to "gehabt": ab. Private to "gemäht": .

"gehabt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gemäht" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehabteghabt · geahbt · gehabbt · gehabtt · gehatb · gehbat · gehhabt · ggehabt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gehabt" for "gemäht" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhaːpt] versus [ɡəˈmɛːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gehabt" vs "gemäht" - which ranks higher?
"gehabt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,079 in our German list, against #47,435 for "gemäht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehabt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemäht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,245,775 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehabt" and "gemäht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemäht vs gemixt". 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 #1,245,775 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