Which to use
“gelingen” is a verb and “geringes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,836
- “gelingen” frequency rank
- #20,597
- “geringes” frequency rank
- 26433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gelingen | geringes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas erfolgreich zu Ende bringen, erfolgreich zustande kommen | Nominativ Singular Neutrum und |
Where the eye mixes gelingen and geringes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelingen and geringes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: gelingen vs geringes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelingen is [ɡəˈlɪŋən] while geringes is [ɡəˈʁɪŋəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gelingen is recorded at frequency rank #5,836, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈlɪŋən]. geringes is at rank #20,597, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʁɪŋəs].
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 26433, this pair ranks #1,818,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gelingen vs geringes
Shared letters: egin. Private to "gelingen": l. Private to "geringes": rs.
"gelingen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "geringes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gelingen" for "geringes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gelingen" or "geringes"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gelingen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "geringes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,818,183 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gelingen" and "geringes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geringes vs gerungen". 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 #1,818,183 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.