gewöhnenvsgewohnterTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,068
“gewöhnen” frequency rank
#36,961
“gewohnter” frequency rank
45029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewöhnen gewohnter
Definition sich an einen Brauch oder an eine Umgebung anpassen, so dass sie nicht mehr neue Erfahrungen sind Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gewohnt

Where the eye mixes gewöhnen and gewohnter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
gewöhnen
9 ch
gewohnter

Visual trap between gewöhnen and gewohnter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gewöhnen is [ɡəˈvøːnən] while gewohnter is [ɡəˈvoːntɐ]. 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 45029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewöhnen is recorded at frequency rank #8,068, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvøːnən]. gewohnter is at rank #36,961, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvoːntɐ].

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 45029, this pair ranks #1,366,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gewöhnen vs gewohnter

Shared letters: eghnw. Private to "gewöhnen": ö. Private to "gewohnter": ort.

"gewöhnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "gewohnter" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gewohnteregwohnter · geowhnter · gewhonter · gewohhnter · gewohnetr · gewohnnter · gewohnterr · gewohntre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewöhnen" for "gewohnter" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gewöhnen" is a verb and "gewohnter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gewöhnen" or "gewohnter" show up more?
"gewöhnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,068 in our German list, against #36,961 for "gewohnter". 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 "gewöhnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewohnter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,366,831 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewöhnen" and "gewohnter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gewählter vs gewohnter". 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 #1,366,831 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