vorgelegenvsvorgelesenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,607
“vorgelegen” frequency rank
#17,769
“vorgelesen” frequency rank
66376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorgelegen vorgelesen
Definition Partizip Perfekt des Verbs vorliegen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs vorlesen

Where the eye mixes vorgelegen and vorgelesen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. vorgelegen and vorgelesen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
vorgelegen
10 ch
vorgelesen

Look-alike desk: vorgelegen vs vorgelesen

A purely visual mix-up. vorgelegen ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩]) and vorgelesen ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːzn̩]) 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 a single letter - g in “vorgelegen” becomes s in “vorgelesen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorgelegen is recorded at frequency rank #48,607, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩]. vorgelesen is at rank #17,769, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːzn̩].

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 66376, this pair ranks #575,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vorgelegen vs vorgelesen

Shared letters: eglnorv. Private to "vorgelegen": -. Private to "vorgelesen": s.

"vorgelegen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "vorgelesen" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vorgelegen ← ovrgelegen · vogrelegen · voreglegen · vorgeelgen · vorgeleegn · vorgelegenn · vorgeleggen · vorgelegne
  • vorgelesen ← ovrgelesen · vogrelesen · voreglesen · vorgeelsen · vorgeleesn · vorgelesenn · vorgelesne · vorgelessen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vorgelegen" and "vorgelesen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːɡn̩] versus [ˈfoːɐ̯ɡəˌleːzn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "vorgelegen" or "vorgelesen" show up more?
"vorgelesen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,769 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgelegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgelesen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #575,459 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorgelegen" and "vorgelesen" 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 #575,459 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