gelegenvsgelegenenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,447
“gelegen” frequency rank
#5,712
“gelegenen” frequency rank
9159
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelegen gelegenen
Definition nach Ort, Zeit oder Umständen willkommen, recht, dienlich Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelegen

Where the eye mixes gelegen and gelegenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gelegen
9 ch
gelegenen

Look-alike desk: gelegen vs gelegenen

A purely visual mix-up. gelegen ([ɡəˈleːɡn̩]) and gelegenen ([ɡəˈleːɡənən]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “gelegen” sits inside “gelegenen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelegen is recorded at frequency rank #3,447, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɡn̩]. gelegenen is at rank #5,712, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɡənən].

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 9159, this pair ranks #1,981,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelegen vs gelegenen

Shared letters: egln. Private to "gelegen": -. Private to "gelegenen": -.

"gelegen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gelegenen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelegeneglegen · geelgen · geleegn · gelegenn · geleggen · gelegne · gelgeen · gellegen
  • gelegeneneglegenen · geelgenen · geleegnen · gelegeenn · gelegenenn · gelegenne · gelegennen · geleggenen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelegen" for "gelegenen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈleːɡn̩] versus [ɡəˈleːɡənən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gelegen" or "gelegenen"?
"gelegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,447 in our German list, against #5,712 for "gelegenen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gelegenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelegen" and "gelegenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelegenen vs gelegenes". 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 #1,981,227 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