gewannenvsgewonneneTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,053
“gewannen” frequency rank
#17,598
“gewonnene” frequency rank
24651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewannen gewonnene
Definition 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gewinnen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewonnen

Where the eye mixes gewannen and gewonnene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gewannen runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against gewonnene's 9 (CVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gewannen
9 ch
gewonnene

Why the eye confuses gewannen with gewonnene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gewannen is [ɡəˈvanən] while gewonnene is [ɡəˈvɔnənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewannen is recorded at frequency rank #7,053, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvanən]. gewonnene is at rank #17,598, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvɔnənə].

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 24651, this pair ranks #1,844,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gewannen vs gewonnene

Shared letters: egnw. Private to "gewannen": a. Private to "gewonnene": o.

"gewannen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gewonnene" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewannenegwannen · geawnnen · gewanen · gewanenn · gewannenn · gewannne · gewnanen · gewwannen
  • gewonneneegwonnene · geownnene · gewnonene · gewonene · gewonenne · gewonneen · gewonnnee · gewwonnene

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewannen" for "gewonnene" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gewannen" is a verb and "gewonnene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gewannen" vs "gewonnene" - which ranks higher?
"gewannen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,053 in our German list, against #17,598 for "gewonnene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "gewannen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewonnene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,844,616 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewannen" and "gewonnene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gesängen vs gewannen". 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 #1,844,616 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