gewünschtvsgewünschtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,122
“gewünscht” frequency rank
#9,207
“gewünschten” frequency rank
13329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gewünscht gewünschten
Definition erhofft oder beabsichtigt Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs gewünscht

Where the eye mixes gewünscht and gewünschten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. gewünscht runs 9 letters (CVCVCCCCC) against gewünschten's 11 (CVCVCCCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
gewünscht
11 ch
gewünschten

Visual trap between gewünscht and gewünschten

A purely visual mix-up. gewünscht ([ɡəˈvʏnʃt]) and gewünschten ([ɡəˈvʏnʃtn̩]) 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) - “gewünscht” sits inside “gewünschten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gewünscht is recorded at frequency rank #4,122, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvʏnʃt]. gewünschten is at rank #9,207, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈvʏnʃtn̩].

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 13329, this pair ranks #1,958,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gewünscht vs gewünschten

Shared letters: ceghnstwü. Private to "gewünscht": -. Private to "gewünschten": -.

"gewünscht" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCCC  ·  "gewünschten" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gewünscht" for "gewünschten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈvʏnʃt] versus [ɡəˈvʏnʃtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gewünscht" or "gewünschten" show up more?
"gewünscht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,122 in our German list, against #9,207 for "gewünschten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gewünscht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewünschten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gewünscht" and "gewünschten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gelutscht vs gewünscht". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,958,676 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