vergessenvsvergesseneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#625
“vergessen” frequency rank
#19,751
“vergessene” frequency rank
20376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vergessen vergessene
Definition in Moment/bestimmter Situation nicht daran gedacht, nicht daran erinnert Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs vergessen

Where the eye mixes vergessen and vergessene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. vergessen runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against vergessene's 10 (CVCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
vergessen
10 ch
vergessene

Look-alike desk: vergessen vs vergessene

A purely visual mix-up. vergessen ([fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsn̩]) and vergessene ([fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsənə]) 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) - “vergessen” sits inside “vergessene”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vergessen is recorded at frequency rank #625, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsn̩]. vergessene is at rank #19,751, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsənə].

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 20376, this pair ranks #1,898,362 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vergessen vs vergessene

Shared letters: egnrsv. Private to "vergessen": -. Private to "vergessene": -.

"vergessen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "vergessene" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vergessen ← evrgessen · vegressen · veregssen · vergesen · vergesesn · vergessenn · vergessne · vergeßen
  • vergessene ← evrgessene · vegressene · veregssene · vergesene · vergesesne · vergesseen · vergessenne · vergessnee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vergessen" for "vergessene" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsn̩] versus [fɛɐ̯ˈɡɛsənə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vergessen" or "vergessene"?
"vergessen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #625 in our German list, against #19,751 for "vergessene". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vergessen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vergessene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,898,362 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vergessen" and "vergessene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vergessene vs vergossen". 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 #1,898,362 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