preisgebenvspreisgegebenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,664
“preisgeben” frequency rank
#34,314
“preisgegeben” frequency rank
57978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preisgeben preisgegeben
Definition etwas oder jemanden verraten, eine Information herausgeben Partizip Perfekt des Verbs preisgeben

Where the eye mixes preisgeben and preisgegeben

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. preisgeben runs 10 letters (CCVVCCVCVC) against preisgegeben's 12 (CCVVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
preisgeben
12 ch
preisgegeben

Visual trap between preisgeben and preisgegeben

A purely visual mix-up. preisgeben ([ˈpʁaɪ̯sˌɡeːbn̩]) and preisgegeben ([ˈpʁaɪ̯sɡəˌɡeːbn̩]) 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 57978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preisgeben is recorded at frequency rank #23,664, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpʁaɪ̯sˌɡeːbn̩]. preisgegeben is at rank #34,314, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpʁaɪ̯sɡəˌɡeːbn̩].

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 57978, this pair ranks #880,312 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of preisgeben vs preisgegeben

Shared letters: beginprs. Private to "preisgeben": -. Private to "preisgegeben": -.

"preisgeben" · 10 letters · shape CCVVCCVCVC  ·  "preisgegeben" · 12 letters · shape CCVVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preisgeben ← perisgeben · ppreisgeben · preigseben · preisegben · preisgbeen · preisgebben · preisgebenn · preisgebne
  • preisgegeben ← perisgegeben · ppreisgegeben · preigsegeben · preiseggeben · preisgeegben · preisgegbeen · preisgegebben · preisgegebenn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "preisgeben" for "preisgegeben" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpʁaɪ̯sˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈpʁaɪ̯sɡəˌɡeːbn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "preisgeben" vs "preisgegeben" - which ranks higher?
"preisgeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,664 in our German list, against #34,314 for "preisgegeben". 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 "preisgeben" and "preisgegeben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "preisgeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preisgegeben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #880,312 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preisgeben" and "preisgegeben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preisgegeben vs preiszugeben". 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 #880,312 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