gesehenvsgesteheWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gesehen” and “gestehe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#339
“gesehen” frequency rank
#25,572
“gestehe” frequency rank
25911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gesehen gestehe
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sehen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gestehen

Where the eye mixes gesehen and gestehe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gesehen (CVCVCVC) and gestehe (CVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
gesehen
7 ch
gestehe

Visual trap between gesehen and gestehe

A purely visual mix-up. gesehen ([ɡəˈzeːən]) and gestehe ([ɡəˈʃteːə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gesehen is recorded at frequency rank #339, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈzeːən]. gestehe is at rank #25,572, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈʃteːə].

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 25911, this pair ranks #1,826,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gesehen vs gestehe

Shared letters: eghs. Private to "gesehen": n. Private to "gestehe": t.

"gesehen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gestehe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesehen ← egsehen · geeshen · geseehn · gesehenn · gesehhen · gesehne · gesheen · gessehen
  • gestehe ← egstehe · gesethe · gesstehe · gesteeh · gestehhe · gesthee · gesttehe · getsehe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gesehen" for "gestehe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈzeːən] versus [ɡəˈʃteːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gesehen" or "gestehe" show up more?
"gesehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #339 in our German list, against #25,572 for "gestehe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "gesehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gestehe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,826,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gesehen" and "gestehe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gestehe vs Gesteine". 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 #1,826,125 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