gingevsgingenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,959
“ginge” frequency rank
#1,733
“gingen” frequency rank
7692
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ginge gingen
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gehen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gehen

Where the eye mixes ginge and gingen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ginge
6 ch
gingen

Why the eye confuses ginge with gingen

A purely visual mix-up. ginge ([ˈɡɪŋə]) and gingen ([ˈɡɪŋən]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “ginge” sits inside “gingen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ginge is recorded at frequency rank #5,959, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡɪŋə]. gingen is at rank #1,733, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡɪŋən].

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 7692, this pair ranks #1,987,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ginge vs gingen

Shared letters: egin. Private to "ginge": -. Private to "gingen": -.

"ginge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "gingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gingegginge · gigne · gineg · gingge · ginnge · gnige · ignge
  • gingenggingen · gignen · ginegn · gingenn · ginggen · gingne · ginngen · gnigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ginge" and "gingen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡɪŋə] versus [ˈɡɪŋən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ginge" or "gingen" show up more?
"gingen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,733 in our German list, against #5,959 for "ginge". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ginge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,987,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ginge" and "gingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gilden vs gingen". 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 #1,987,262 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