gehaltenvsgehaltenenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,419
“gehalten” frequency rank
#16,159
“gehaltenen” frequency rank
17578
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehalten gehaltenen
Definition maßvoll, beherrscht Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gehalten

Where the eye mixes gehalten and gehaltenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. gehalten runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against gehaltenen's 10 (CVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gehalten
10 ch
gehaltenen

Visual trap between gehalten and gehaltenen

A purely visual mix-up. gehalten ([ɡəˈhaltn̩]) and gehaltenen ([ɡəˈhaltənən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “gehalten” sits inside “gehaltenen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehalten is recorded at frequency rank #1,419, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhaltn̩]. gehaltenen is at rank #16,159, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhaltənən].

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 17578, this pair ranks #1,926,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehalten vs gehaltenen

Shared letters: aeghlnt. Private to "gehalten": -. Private to "gehaltenen": -.

"gehalten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gehaltenen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehalteneghalten · geahlten · gehaletn · gehallten · gehaltenn · gehaltne · gehaltten · gehatlen
  • gehalteneneghaltenen · geahltenen · gehaletnen · gehalltenen · gehalteenn · gehaltenenn · gehaltenne · gehaltennen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehalten" and "gehaltenen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhaltn̩] versus [ɡəˈhaltənən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gehalten" vs "gehaltenen" - which ranks higher?
"gehalten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,419 in our German list, against #16,159 for "gehaltenen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "gehalten" and "gehaltenen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehalten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehaltenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,926,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehalten" and "gehaltenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehaltenen vs Gehältern". 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 #1,926,128 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