zugebenvszugehenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,135
“zugeben” frequency rank
#16,335
“zugehen” frequency rank
21470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature zugeben zugehen
Definition etwas als richtig, zutreffend bestätigen; einer fremden Behauptung Richtigkeit zubilligen eine eigene Tat einräumen, eingestehen in die Richtung von jemandem oder etwas gehen

Where the eye mixes zugeben and zugehen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. zugeben and zugehen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
zugeben
7 ch
zugehen

Why the eye confuses zugeben with zugehen

A purely visual mix-up. zugeben ([ˈt͡suːˌɡeːbn̩]) and zugehen ([ˈt͡suːˌɡeːən]) 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 - b in “zugeben” becomes h in “zugehen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

zugeben is recorded at frequency rank #5,135, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡suːˌɡeːbn̩]. zugehen is at rank #16,335, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡suːˌɡeːən].

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 21470, this pair ranks #1,885,901 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of zugeben vs zugehen

Shared letters: egnuz. Private to "zugeben": b. Private to "zugehen": h.

"zugeben" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "zugehen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • zugeben ← uzgeben · zgueben · zuegben · zugbeen · zugebben · zugebenn · zugebne · zugeebn
  • zugehen ← uzgehen · zguehen · zueghen · zugeehn · zugehenn · zugehhen · zugehne · zuggehen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "zugeben" for "zugehen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡suːˌɡeːbn̩] versus [ˈt͡suːˌɡeːən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "zugeben" vs "zugehen" - which ranks higher?
"zugeben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,135 in our German list, against #16,335 for "zugehen". 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 "zugeben" and "zugehen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "zugeben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "zugehen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,885,901 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "zugeben" and "zugehen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "zugehen vs zugetan". 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 #1,885,901 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