Which to use
“gehen” and “gehend” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #209
- “gehen” frequency rank
- #41,840
- “gehend” frequency rank
- 42049
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gehen | gehend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich schreitend, schrittweise fortbewegen | Partizip Präsens des Verbs gehen |
Where the eye mixes gehen and gehend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gehen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against gehend's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between gehen and gehend
A purely visual mix-up. gehen ([ˈɡeːən]) and gehend ([ˈɡeːənt]) 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 extra letter(s) - “gehen” sits inside “gehend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gehen is recorded at frequency rank #209, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːən]. gehend is at rank #41,840, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːənt].
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 42049, this pair ranks #1,461,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gehen vs gehend
Shared letters: eghn. Private to "gehen": -. Private to "gehend": d.
"gehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "gehend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gehen" for "gehend" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gehen" vs "gehend" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gehen" and "gehend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gehend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,461,150 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gehen" and "gehend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehend vs gehenden". 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 #1,461,150 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.