gähn

[ɡɛːn]

/[ɡɛːn]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“gähn” is uncommon German (frequency #56,191 among 5,117 “G” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,191
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gähnen

Corpus desk

Index DE-gahn · gähn · German

gähn · rank #56,191 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #56,191
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH Haiku

Nearest frequency peer: Haiku (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „gähn“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „gähn“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gähn
PropertyValue
Headwordgähn
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ɡɛːn]
Letters4
Frequency rank#56,191
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „gähn“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).gähnfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Haiku“ (#56,192), „gutzumachen“ (#56,189), „Halbierung“ (#56,193). Unter 5,117 „G“-Lemmata liegt „gähn“ bei #56,191. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gähn is uncommon German at frequency #56,191 among 5,117 “G” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ɡɛːn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

gähn doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is gähn, spelled G-Ä-H-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gähnen
  2. 2
    1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gähnen

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gähn"?
"gähn" is spelled G-Ä-H-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ɡɛːn].
What does "gähn" mean?
As a verb, "gähn" means: 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gähnen
How do you pronounce "gähn"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gähn" is [ɡɛːn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gähn" come from?
"gähn" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gähn", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hari#56,200hoax#56,222Evas#56,110kuka#56,291

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list