geselligvsgeselligenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,220
“gesellig” frequency rank
#33,083
“geselligen” frequency rank
76303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gesellig geselligen
Definition in netter Gesellschaft Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gesellig

Where the eye mixes gesellig and geselligen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
gesellig
10 ch
geselligen

Why the eye confuses gesellig with geselligen

A purely visual mix-up. gesellig ([ɡəˈzɛlɪç]) and geselligen ([ɡəˈzɛlɪɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gesellig” sits inside “geselligen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gesellig is recorded at frequency rank #43,220, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛlɪç]. geselligen is at rank #33,083, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈzɛlɪɡn̩].

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 76303, this pair ranks #287,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gesellig vs geselligen

Shared letters: egils. Private to "gesellig": -. Private to "geselligen": n.

"gesellig" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "geselligen" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geselligegsellig · geesllig · geselig · geselilg · gesellgi · geselligg · geslelig · gessellig
  • geselligenegselligen · geeslligen · geseligen · geselilgen · gesellgien · geselliegn · geselligenn · geselliggen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gesellig" and "geselligen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈzɛlɪç] versus [ɡəˈzɛlɪɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gesellig" or "geselligen"?
"geselligen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,083 in our German list, against #43,220 for "gesellig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gesellig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geselligen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #287,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gesellig" and "geselligen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gesell vs gesellig". 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 #287,056 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