vergebenevsvergehenTell them apart

Quick tell: vergebene is a adjective, vergehen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vergebene” is an adjective and “vergehen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,099
“vergebene” frequency rank
#6,606
“vergehen” frequency rank
45705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vergebene vergehen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs vergeben (rasch) zu Ende kommen

Where the eye mixes vergebene and vergehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. vergebene runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against vergehen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
vergebene
8 ch
vergehen

Look-alike desk: vergebene vs vergehen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vergebene is [fɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbənə] while vergehen is [fɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vergebene is recorded at frequency rank #39,099, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈɡeːbənə]. vergehen is at rank #6,606, tagged as averb, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈɡeːən].

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 45705, this pair ranks #1,343,974 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vergebene vs vergehen

Shared letters: egnrv. Private to "vergebene": b. Private to "vergehen": h.

"vergebene" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "vergehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vergebene ← evrgebene · vegrebene · veregbene · vergbeene · vergebbene · vergebeen · vergebnee · vergeebne
  • vergehen ← evrgehen · vegrehen · vereghen · vergeehn · vergehenn · vergehhen · vergehne · verggehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vergebene" for "vergehen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vergebene" is an adjective and "vergehen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vergebene" vs "vergehen" - which ranks higher?
"vergehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,606 in our German list, against #39,099 for "vergebene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vergebene" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vergehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,343,974 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vergebene" and "vergehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Vergaben vs vergebene". 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 #1,343,974 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