geratenvsgeratenenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,124
“geraten” frequency rank
#37,536
“geratenen” frequency rank
40660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geraten geratenen
Definition zufällig/ ohne Absicht an den falschen Ort oder in eine unangenehme Situation kommen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geraten

Where the eye mixes geraten and geratenen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. geraten runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against geratenen's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
geraten
9 ch
geratenen

Visual trap between geraten and geratenen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geraten is [ɡəˈʁaːtn̩] while geratenen is [ɡəˈʁaːtənən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “geraten” sits inside “geratenen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geraten is recorded at frequency rank #3,124, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʁaːtn̩]. geratenen is at rank #37,536, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʁaːtənən].

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 40660, this pair ranks #1,502,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of geraten vs geratenen

Shared letters: aegnrt. Private to "geraten": -. Private to "geratenen": -.

"geraten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "geratenen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geratenegraten · gearten · geraetn · geratenn · geratne · geratten · gerraten · gertaen
  • geratenenegratenen · geartenen · geraetnen · gerateenn · geratenenn · geratenne · geratennen · geratneen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "geraten" and "geratenen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geraten" is a verb and "geratenen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "geraten" or "geratenen" show up more?
"geraten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,124 in our German list, against #37,536 for "geratenen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "geraten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geratenen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,502,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "geraten" and "geratenen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geratenen vs getretenen". 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 #1,502,057 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