vorgegebenvsvorgelegenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,062
“vorgegeben” frequency rank
#48,607
“vorgelegen” frequency rank
61669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorgegeben vorgelegen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs vorgeben Partizip Perfekt des Verbs vorliegen

Where the eye mixes vorgegeben and vorgelegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. vorgegeben and vorgelegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
vorgegeben
10 ch
vorgelegen

Visual trap between vorgegeben and vorgelegen

A purely visual mix-up. vorgegeben ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌɡeːbn̩]) and vorgelegen ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61669, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorgegeben is recorded at frequency rank #13,062, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌɡeːbn̩]. vorgelegen is at rank #48,607, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩].

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 61669, this pair ranks #741,064 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vorgegeben vs vorgelegen

Shared letters: egnorv. Private to "vorgegeben": b. Private to "vorgelegen": l.

"vorgegeben" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "vorgelegen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vorgegeben ← ovrgegeben · vogregeben · voreggeben · vorgeegben · vorgegbeen · vorgegebben · vorgegebenn · vorgegebne
  • vorgelegen ← ovrgelegen · vogrelegen · voreglegen · vorgeelgen · vorgeleegn · vorgelegenn · vorgeleggen · vorgelegne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vorgegeben" and "vorgelegen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "vorgegeben" or "vorgelegen" show up more?
"vorgegeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,062 in our German list, against #48,607 for "vorgelegen". 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 "vorgegeben" and "vorgelegen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgegeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgelegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #741,064 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorgegeben" and "vorgelegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vorgelegen vs vorgelegte". 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 #741,064 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