Which to use
“gehen” and “glühen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #209
- “gehen” frequency rank
- #32,571
- “glühen” frequency rank
- 32780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gehen | glühen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich schreitend, schrittweise fortbewegen | vor Hitze in oranger bis rötlicher Farbe leuchten |
Where the eye mixes gehen and glühen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gehen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against glühen's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between gehen and glühen
A purely visual mix-up. gehen ([ˈɡeːən]) and glühen ([ˈɡlyːən]) 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 32780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gehen is recorded at frequency rank #209, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːən]. glühen is at rank #32,571, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡlyːən].
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 32780, this pair ranks #1,700,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gehen vs glühen
Shared letters: eghn. Private to "gehen": -. Private to "glühen": lü.
"gehen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "glühen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gehen ← eghen · geehn · gehenn · gehhen · gehne · ggehen · gheen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gehen" and "glühen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "gehen" or "glühen" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "glühen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,700,191 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gehen" and "glühen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glühen vs Guben". 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 #1,700,191 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.