gelebtvsgelebtenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gelebt is a verb, gelebten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,200
“gelebt” frequency rank
#45,968
“gelebten” frequency rank
50168
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelebt gelebten
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs leben Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelebt

Where the eye mixes gelebt and gelebten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelebt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against gelebten's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gelebt
8 ch
gelebten

Visual trap between gelebt and gelebten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelebt is [ɡəˈleːpt] while gelebten is [ɡəˈleːptn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gelebt” sits inside “gelebten”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelebt is recorded at frequency rank #4,200, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈleːpt]. gelebten is at rank #45,968, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːptn̩].

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 50168, this pair ranks #1,184,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gelebt vs gelebten

Shared letters: beglt. Private to "gelebt": -. Private to "gelebten": n.

"gelebt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gelebten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelebt ← eglebt · geelbt · gelbet · gelebbt · gelebtt · geletb · gellebt · ggelebt
  • gelebten ← eglebten · geelbten · gelbeten · gelebbten · gelebetn · gelebtenn · gelebtne · gelebtten

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelebt" for "gelebten" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gelebt" is a verb and "gelebten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gelebt" or "gelebten"?
"gelebt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,200 in our German list, against #45,968 for "gelebten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelebt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelebten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,184,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelebt" and "gelebten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelebten vs gelobten". 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 #1,184,027 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