gewöhnenvsgeworbenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,068
“gewöhnen” frequency rank
#18,904
“geworben” frequency rank
26972
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewöhnen geworben
Definition sich an einen Brauch oder an eine Umgebung anpassen, so dass sie nicht mehr neue Erfahrungen sind Partizip Perfekt des Verbs werben

Where the eye mixes gewöhnen and geworben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gewöhnen and geworben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
gewöhnen
8 ch
geworben

Visual trap between gewöhnen and geworben

A purely visual mix-up. gewöhnen ([ɡəˈvøːnən]) and geworben ([ɡəˈvɔʁbn̩]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26972, 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]. geworben is at rank #18,904, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɔʁbn̩].

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 26972, this pair ranks #1,809,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gewöhnen vs geworben

Shared letters: egnw. Private to "gewöhnen": . Private to "geworben": bor.

"gewöhnen" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "geworben" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geworbenegworben · geowrben · gewobren · geworbben · geworbenn · geworbne · geworebn · geworrben

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewöhnen" for "geworben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvøːnən] versus [ɡəˈvɔʁbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gewöhnen" or "geworben" show up more?
"gewöhnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,068 in our German list, against #18,904 for "geworben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gewöhnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geworben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,809,357 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewöhnen" and "geworben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gewerbes vs geworben". 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 #1,809,357 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