vagenvsVasenConfusable pair

Quick tell: vagen is a adjective, Vasen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vagen” is an adjective and “Vasen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,571
“vagen” frequency rank
#27,992
“Vasen” frequency rank
71563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vagen Vasen
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs vage Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Vase

Where the eye mixes vagen and Vasen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. vagen and Vasen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
vagen
5 ch
Vasen

Visual trap between vagen and Vasen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vagen is [ˈvaːɡn̩] while Vasen is [ˈvaːzn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “vagen” becomes s in “Vasen”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vagen is recorded at frequency rank #43,571, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈvaːɡn̩]. Vasen is at rank #27,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈvaːzn̩].

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 71563, this pair ranks #413,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vagen vs Vasen

Shared letters: aenv. Private to "vagen": g. Private to "Vasen": s.

"vagen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Vasen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vagen ← avgen · vaegn · vagenn · vaggen · vagne · vgaen · vvagen
  • Vasen ← avsen · vaesn · vasenn · vasne · vassen · vsaen · vvasen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vagen" and "Vasen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vagen" is an adjective and "Vasen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vagen" or "Vasen"?
"Vasen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,992 in our German list, against #43,571 for "vagen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vagen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Vasen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #413,198 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vagen" and "Vasen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vagen vs Varel". 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 #413,198 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