GeschenkvsgeschontTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,340
“Geschenk” frequency rank
#30,085
“geschont” frequency rank
32425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Geschenk geschont
Definition Übertragung des Eigentums an einer Sache ohne Erwartung einer Gegenleistung Partizip Perfekt des Verbs schonen

Where the eye mixes Geschenk and geschont

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

8 ch
Geschenk
8 ch
geschont

Why the eye confuses Geschenk with geschont

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Geschenk is [ɡəˈʃɛŋk] while geschont is [ɡəˈʃoːnt]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Geschenk is recorded at frequency rank #2,340, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈʃɛŋk]. geschont is at rank #30,085, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃoːnt].

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 32425, this pair ranks #1,707,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Geschenk vs geschont

Shared letters: ceghns. Private to "Geschenk": k. Private to "geschont": ot.

"Geschenk" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC  ·  "geschont" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Geschenkegschenk · gecshenk · gescchenk · gescehnk · geschekn · geschenkk · geschennk · geschhenk
  • geschontegschont · gecshont · gescchont · geschhont · geschnot · geschonnt · geschontt · geschotn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Geschenk" and "geschont" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Geschenk" is a noun and "geschont" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Geschenk" or "geschont" show up more?
"Geschenk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,340 in our German list, against #30,085 for "geschont". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Geschenk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geschont" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,707,844 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Geschenk" and "geschont" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gescheut vs geschont". 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 #1,707,844 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