GenenvsgingenTell them apart

Quick tell: Genen is a noun, gingen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Genen” is a noun and “gingen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,026
“Genen” frequency rank
#1,733
“gingen” frequency rank
27759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Genen gingen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs Gen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gehen

Where the eye mixes Genen and gingen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Genen
6 ch
gingen

Look-alike desk: Genen vs gingen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Genen is [ˈɡeːnən] while gingen is [ˈɡɪŋən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Genen is recorded at frequency rank #26,026, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡeːnən]. gingen is at rank #1,733, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡɪŋən].

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 27759, this pair ranks #1,796,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Genen vs gingen

Shared letters: egn. Private to "Genen": -. Private to "gingen": i.

"Genen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "gingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Genengeenn · genenn · genne · gennen · ggenen · gneen
  • gingenggingen · gignen · ginegn · gingenn · ginggen · gingne · ginngen · gnigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Genen" and "gingen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Genen" is a noun and "gingen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Genen" or "gingen"?
"gingen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,733 in our German list, against #26,026 for "Genen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Genen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,796,367 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Genen" and "gingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Genen vs given". 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 #1,796,367 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