Which to use
“gelungen” is an adjective and “gesunken” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,315
- “gelungen” frequency rank
- #8,212
- “gesunken” frequency rank
- 11527
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gelungen | gesunken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rückblickend betrachtet: positive Erwartung vollständig erfüllend, mit ganz und gar gutem Ergebnis | Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sinken |
Where the eye mixes gelungen and gesunken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gelungen and gesunken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between gelungen and gesunken
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gelungen is [ɡəˈlʊŋən] while gesunken is [ɡəˈzʊŋkn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gelungen is recorded at frequency rank #3,315, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈlʊŋən]. gesunken is at rank #8,212, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈzʊŋkn̩].
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 11527, this pair ranks #1,969,423 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gelungen vs gesunken
Shared letters: egnu. Private to "gelungen": l. Private to "gesunken": ks.
"gelungen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "gesunken" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gelungen" for "gesunken" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "gelungen" or "gesunken" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gelungen" and "gesunken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gelungen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gesunken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,969,423 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gelungen" and "gesunken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gemünden vs gesunken". 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 #1,969,423 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.