gehenvsgehstWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#209
“gehen” frequency rank
#3,585
“gehst” frequency rank
3794
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehen gehst
Definition sich schreitend, schrittweise fortbewegen 2. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs gehen

Where the eye mixes gehen and gehst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
gehen
5 ch
gehst

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gehen ([ˈɡeːən]) and gehst ([ɡeːst]) 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 3794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehen is recorded at frequency rank #209, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːən]. gehst is at rank #3,585, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡeːst].

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 3794, this pair ranks #1,999,355 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehen vs gehst

Shared letters: egh. Private to "gehen": n. Private to "gehst": st.

"gehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gehst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geheneghen · geehn · gehenn · gehhen · gehne · ggehen · gheen
  • gehsteghst · gehhst · gehsst · gehstt · gesht · ggehst · ghest

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehen" and "gehst" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡeːən] versus [ɡeːst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gehen" or "gehst"?
"gehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #209 in our German list, against #3,585 for "gehst". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list