Which to use
“gelingen” is a verb and “Gesängen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,836
- “gelingen” frequency rank
- #45,984
- “Gesängen” frequency rank
- 51820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gelingen | Gesängen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas erfolgreich zu Ende bringen, erfolgreich zustande kommen | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gesang |
Where the eye mixes gelingen and Gesängen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelingen and Gesängen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between gelingen and Gesängen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelingen is [ɡəˈlɪŋən] while Gesängen is [ɡəˈzɛŋən]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51820, 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]. Gesängen is at rank #45,984, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛŋən].
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 51820, this pair ranks #1,120,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gelingen vs Gesängen
Shared letters: egn. Private to "gelingen": il. Private to "Gesängen": sä.
"gelingen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "Gesängen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gelingen ← eglingen · geilngen · gelignen · gelinegn · gelingenn · gelinggen · gelingne · gelinngen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gelingen" for "Gesängen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "gelingen" or "Gesängen" show up more?
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 "Gesängen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,120,789 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gelingen" and "Gesängen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gegangene vs Gesängen". 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 #1,120,789 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.