gründenvsgründetenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,085
“gründen” frequency rank
#17,925
“gründeten” frequency rank
19010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gründen gründeten
Definition eine Institution, eine Organisation einrichten 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gründen

Where the eye mixes gründen and gründeten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gründen runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against gründeten's 9 (CCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gründen
9 ch
gründeten

Why the eye confuses gründen with gründeten

A purely visual mix-up. gründen ([ˈɡʁʏndn̩]) and gründeten ([ˈɡʁʏndətn̩]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gründen is recorded at frequency rank #1,085, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡʁʏndn̩]. gründeten is at rank #17,925, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɡʁʏndətn̩].

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 19010, this pair ranks #1,912,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gründen vs gründeten

Shared letters: degnrü. Private to "gründen": -. Private to "gründeten": t.

"gründen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "gründeten" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gründen" for "gründeten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɡʁʏndn̩] versus [ˈɡʁʏndətn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gründen" vs "gründeten" - which ranks higher?
"gründen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,085 in our German list, against #17,925 for "gründeten". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gründen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gründeten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,912,700 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gründen" and "gründeten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gründeten vs Grundton". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,912,700 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