gelassenvsgesessenConfusable pair

Quick tell: gelassen is a adjective, gesessen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gelassen” is an adjective and “gesessen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,203
“gelassen” frequency rank
#9,205
“gesessen” frequency rank
11408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelassen gesessen
Definition ruhig – meist trotz nervöser Atmosphäre; nicht beeindruckt Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sitzen

Where the eye mixes gelassen and gesessen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelassen and gesessen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
gelassen
8 ch
gesessen

Look-alike desk: gelassen vs gesessen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelassen is [ɡəˈlasn̩] while gesessen is [ɡəˈzɛsn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelassen is recorded at frequency rank #2,203, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈlasn̩]. gesessen is at rank #9,205, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛsn̩].

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 11408, this pair ranks #1,970,016 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelassen vs gesessen

Shared letters: egns. Private to "gelassen": al. Private to "gesessen": -.

"gelassen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gesessen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelassen ← eglassen · gealssen · gelasen · gelasesn · gelassenn · gelassne · gelaßen · gellassen
  • gesessen ← egsessen · geesssen · gesesen · gesesesn · gesessenn · gesessne · geseßen · gessesen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelassen" for "gesessen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gelassen" is an adjective and "gesessen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gelassen" or "gesessen"?
"gelassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,203 in our German list, against #9,205 for "gesessen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "gelassen" and "gesessen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gesessen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,970,016 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelassen" and "gesessen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelassen vs gelassener". 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 #1,970,016 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