Which to use
“taken” is an adjective and “taking” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,860
- “taken” frequency rank
- #47,767
- “taking” frequency rank
- 90627
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | taken | taking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs tak | Partizip Präsens (present participle) des Verbs take |
Letter map: taken vs taking
Shared letters muted; letters that set taken and taking apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. taken runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against taking's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: taken vs taking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: taken is anadjective and takingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
taken is recorded at frequency rank #42,860, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈtakn̩]. taking is at rank #47,767, tagged as averb, pronounced […].
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 90627, this pair ranks #45,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of taken vs taking
Shared letters: aknt. Private to "taken": e. Private to "taking": gi.
"taken" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "taking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "taken" and "taking" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "taken" or "taking" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "taken" and "taking". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "taken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "taking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,213 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "taken" and "taking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles 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 #45,213 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.