geliehenvsgesehenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,736
“geliehen” frequency rank
#339
“gesehen” frequency rank
23075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geliehen gesehen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs leihen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sehen

Where the eye mixes geliehen and gesehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. geliehen runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against gesehen's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
geliehen
7 ch
gesehen

Visual trap between geliehen and gesehen

A purely visual mix-up. geliehen ([ɡəˈliːən]) and gesehen ([ɡəˈzeːən]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geliehen is recorded at frequency rank #22,736, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈliːən]. gesehen is at rank #339, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈzeːən].

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 23075, this pair ranks #1,866,086 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geliehen vs gesehen

Shared letters: eghn. Private to "geliehen": il. Private to "gesehen": s.

"geliehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "gesehen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geliehen ← egliehen · geilehen · geleihen · gelieehn · geliehenn · geliehhen · geliehne · geliheen
  • gesehen ← egsehen · geeshen · geseehn · gesehenn · gesehhen · gesehne · gesheen · gessehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geliehen" and "gesehen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈliːən] versus [ɡəˈzeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "geliehen" or "gesehen"?
"gesehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #339 in our German list, against #22,736 for "geliehen". 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 "geliehen" and "gesehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "geliehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gesehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,866,086 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geliehen" and "gesehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geliehen vs gerieben". 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 #1,866,086 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