Which to use
“glauben” and “glaubten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #659
- “glauben” frequency rank
- #13,384
- “glaubten” frequency rank
- 14043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glauben | glaubten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | religiös sein, an einen oder mehrere Götter glauben; in seinem Glauben überzeugt sein | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs glauben |
Where the eye mixes glauben and glaubten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between glauben and glaubten
A purely visual mix-up. glauben ([ˈɡlaʊ̯bn̩]) and glaubten ([ˈɡlaʊ̯ptn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glauben is recorded at frequency rank #659, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡlaʊ̯bn̩]. glaubten is at rank #13,384, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡlaʊ̯ptn̩].
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 14043, this pair ranks #1,953,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of glauben vs glaubten
Shared letters: abeglnu. Private to "glauben": -. Private to "glaubten": t.
"glauben" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "glaubten" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "glauben" and "glaubten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "glauben" vs "glaubten" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "glauben" and "glaubten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "glauben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "glaubten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,953,947 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "glauben" and "glaubten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glänzten vs glaubten". 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 #1,953,947 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.