gehauenvsgelaufenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,907
“gehauen” frequency rank
#2,894
“gelaufen” frequency rank
20801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehauen gelaufen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs hauen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs laufen

Where the eye mixes gehauen and gelaufen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gehauen runs 7 letters (CVCVVVC) against gelaufen's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gehauen
8 ch
gelaufen

Look-alike desk: gehauen vs gelaufen

A purely visual mix-up. gehauen ([ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən]) and gelaufen ([ɡəˈlaʊ̯fn̩]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20801, 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]. gelaufen is at rank #2,894, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlaʊ̯fn̩].

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 20801, this pair ranks #1,893,595 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehauen vs gelaufen

Shared letters: aegnu. Private to "gehauen": h. Private to "gelaufen": fl.

"gehauen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC  ·  "gelaufen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehaueneghauen · geahuen · gehaeun · gehauenn · gehaune · gehhauen · gehuaen · ggehauen
  • gelaufeneglaufen · gealufen · gelafuen · gelauefn · gelaufenn · gelauffen · gelaufne · gellaufen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gehauen" and "gelaufen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhaʊ̯ən] versus [ɡəˈlaʊ̯fn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gehauen" vs "gelaufen" - which ranks higher?
"gelaufen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,894 in our German list, against #17,907 for "gehauen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehauen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelaufen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,893,595 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehauen" and "gelaufen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehauen vs Gehäuses". 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 #1,893,595 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