Which to use
“take” and “taken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,953
- “take” frequency rank
- #42,860
- “taken” frequency rank
- 51813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | take | taken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak |
Where the eye mixes take and taken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. take runs 4 letters (CVCV) against taken's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses take with taken
A purely visual mix-up. take ([ˈtakə]) and taken ([ˈtakn̩]) 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) - “take” sits inside “taken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
take is recorded at frequency rank #8,953, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakə]. taken is at rank #42,860, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakn̩].
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 51813, this pair ranks #1,121,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of take vs taken
Shared letters: aekt. Private to "take": -. Private to "taken": n.
"take" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "take" for "taken" ever safe?
Frequency check: "take" vs "taken" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "take" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "taken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,121,052 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "take" and "taken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "taken vs taking". 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 #1,121,052 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.