gelegenevsgelegenenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,726
“gelegene” frequency rank
#5,712
“gelegenen” frequency rank
15438
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelegene gelegenen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelegen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gelegen

Where the eye mixes gelegene and gelegenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
gelegene
9 ch
gelegenen

Look-alike desk: gelegene vs gelegenen

A purely visual mix-up. gelegene ([ɡəˈleːɡənə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “gelegene” sits inside “gelegenen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelegene is recorded at frequency rank #9,726, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈleːɡənə]. 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 15438, this pair ranks #1,943,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gelegene vs gelegenen

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

"gelegene" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "gelegenen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gelegeneeglegene · geelgene · geleegne · gelegeen · geleggene · gelegnee · gelgeene · gellegene
  • gelegeneneglegenen · geelgenen · geleegnen · gelegeenn · gelegenenn · gelegenne · gelegennen · geleggenen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gelegene" for "gelegenen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈleːɡənə] versus [ɡəˈleːɡənən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gelegene" or "gelegenen" show up more?
"gelegenen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,712 in our German list, against #9,726 for "gelegene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelegene" 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 #1,943,875 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelegene" and "gelegenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebogene vs gelegene". 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 #1,943,875 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