gehäuftvsgekauftConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#37,533
“gehäuft” frequency rank
#1,451
“gekauft” frequency rank
38984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehäuft gekauft
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs häufen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs kaufen

Where the eye mixes gehäuft and gekauft

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gehäuft and gekauft follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
gehäuft
7 ch
gekauft

Why the eye confuses gehäuft with gekauft

A purely visual mix-up. gehäuft ([ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ft]) and gekauft ([ɡəˈkaʊ̯ft]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehäuft is recorded at frequency rank #37,533, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ft]. gekauft is at rank #1,451, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈkaʊ̯ft].

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 38984, this pair ranks #1,549,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehäuft vs gekauft

Shared letters: efgtu. Private to "gehäuft": . Private to "gekauft": ak.

"gehäuft" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "gekauft" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gekauftegkauft · geakuft · gekafut · gekaufft · gekauftt · gekautf · gekkauft · gekuaft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehäuft" and "gekauft" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhɔɪ̯ft] versus [ɡəˈkaʊ̯ft]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gehäuft" or "gekauft" show up more?
"gekauft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,451 in our German list, against #37,533 for "gehäuft". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehäuft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gekauft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,549,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehäuft" and "gekauft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehäuft vs gerafft". 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 #1,549,321 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