gehtvsGenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: geht is a verb, Gen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geht” is a verb and “Gen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#99
“geht” frequency rank
#4,793
“Gen” frequency rank
4892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geht Gen
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehen Sequenz auf der DNA, die mit einer bestimmten Basenabfolge für eine Ribonukleinsäure codiert

Where the eye mixes geht and Gen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
geht
3 ch
Gen

Visual trap between geht and Gen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geht is [ɡeːt] while Gen is [ɡeːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geht is recorded at frequency rank #99, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡeːt]. Gen is at rank #4,793, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡeːn].

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 4892, this pair ranks #1,996,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geht vs Gen

Shared letters: eg. Private to "geht": ht. Private to "Gen": n.

"geht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Gen" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehteght · gehht · gehtt · geth · ggeht · ghet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geht" and "Gen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geht" is a verb and "Gen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "geht" or "Gen" show up more?
"geht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #99 in our German list, against #4,793 for "Gen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,364 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geht" and "Gen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs Gen". 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 #1,996,364 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