Which to use
“gehauen” is a verb and “geheuer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,907
- “gehauen” frequency rank
- #49,703
- “geheuer” frequency rank
- 67610
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gehauen | geheuer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs hauen | nachvollziehbar und akzeptabel, so dass es Wohlbefinden auslöst; meist aber prädikativ in Verbindung mit „nicht“ gebräuchlich: „nicht (ganz)geheuer verdächtig/unheimlich |
Where the eye mixes gehauen and geheuer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gehauen and geheuer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: gehauen vs geheuer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehauen is [ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən] while geheuer is [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ɐ]. 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 67610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gehauen is recorded at frequency rank #17,907, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən]. geheuer is at rank #49,703, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ɐ].
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 67610, this pair ranks #534,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gehauen vs geheuer
Shared letters: eghu. Private to "gehauen": an. Private to "geheuer": r.
"gehauen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC · "geheuer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gehauen" and "geheuer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "gehauen" or "geheuer" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gehauen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "geheuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #534,530 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gehauen" and "geheuer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geheuer vs Gemäuer". 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 #534,530 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.