genossenvsgerissenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: genossen is a verb, gerissen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“genossen” is a verb and “gerissen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,201
“genossen” frequency rank
#6,661
“gerissen” frequency rank
10862
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature genossen gerissen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs genießen auf unsympathische Weise schlau, geschäftstüchtig

Where the eye mixes genossen and gerissen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. genossen and gerissen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
genossen
8 ch
gerissen

Look-alike desk: genossen vs gerissen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: genossen is [ɡəˈnɔsn̩] while gerissen is [ɡəˈʁɪsn̩]. 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 10862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

genossen is recorded at frequency rank #4,201, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈnɔsn̩]. gerissen is at rank #6,661, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʁɪsn̩].

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 10862, this pair ranks #1,972,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of genossen vs gerissen

Shared letters: egns. Private to "genossen": o. Private to "gerissen": ir.

"genossen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gerissen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • genossen ← egnossen · gennossen · genosen · genosesn · genossenn · genossne · genoßen · gensosen
  • gerissen ← egrissen · geirssen · gerisen · gerisesn · gerissenn · gerissne · gerißen · gerrissen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "genossen" for "gerissen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "genossen" is a verb and "gerissen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "genossen" or "gerissen" show up more?
"genossen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,201 in our German list, against #6,661 for "gerissen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "genossen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gerissen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,972,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "genossen" and "gerissen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "genossen vs Genüsse". 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 #1,972,947 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