gelegenvsGelenkenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gelegen is a adjective, Gelenken is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gelegen” is an adjective and “Gelenken” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,447
“gelegen” frequency rank
#38,766
“Gelenken” frequency rank
42213
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelegen Gelenken
Definition nach Ort, Zeit oder Umständen willkommen, recht, dienlich Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gelenk

Where the eye mixes gelegen and Gelenken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gelegen
8 ch
Gelenken

Look-alike desk: gelegen vs Gelenken

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelegen is [ɡəˈleːɡn̩] while Gelenken is [ɡəˈlɛŋkn̩]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42213, 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]. Gelenken is at rank #38,766, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈlɛŋkn̩].

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 42213, this pair ranks #1,456,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gelegen vs Gelenken

Shared letters: egln. Private to "gelegen": -. Private to "Gelenken": k.

"gelegen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "Gelenken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelegeneglegen · geelgen · geleegn · gelegenn · geleggen · gelegne · gelgeen · gellegen
  • Gelenkeneglenken · geelnken · geleknen · gelenekn · gelenkenn · gelenkken · gelenkne · gelennken

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelegen" for "Gelenken" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gelegen" is an adjective and "Gelenken" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gelegen" or "Gelenken" show up more?
"gelegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,447 in our German list, against #38,766 for "Gelenken". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "gelegen" and "Gelenken" 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 "Gelenken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,456,227 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelegen" and "Gelenken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelebten vs Gelenken". 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 #1,456,227 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