Gen
[ɡeːn]
The verdict
“Gen” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,793) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #4,793
- frequency rank, German
- 5,117
- “G” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sequenz auf der DNA, die mit einer bestimmten Basenabfolge für eine Ribonukleinsäure codiert
Corpus desk
Index DE-gen · Gen · German
Gen · rank #4,793 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #4,793
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,117
- PHOTO-FINISH Gedichte
Nearest frequency peer: Gedichte (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Gen”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- erstens
erstens
95,211 corpus weight
- Events
Events
95,210 corpus weight
- Gedichte
Gedichte
95,209 corpus weight
- Gen
Gen
95,208 corpus weight
- geplante
geplante
95,207 corpus weight
- geschossen
geschossen
95,206 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Gen” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Gen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ɡeːn] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #4,793 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Gen” sits in German frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for Gen is neighbouring look-alikes ("go", "GG", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ɡeːn]. Frequency #4,793 among 5,117 “G” headwords. Gloss: "Sequenz auf der DNA, die mit einer bestimmten Basenabfolge für eine Ribonukleinsäure codiert".
Gen has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "go", "GG", "GM", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Gen, spelled G-E-N.
Definition
- 1Sequenz auf der DNA, die mit einer bestimmten Basenabfolge für eine Ribonukleinsäure codiert
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Gen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
„Daß in der Zelle individuelle, selbstreplizierende "Elemente" … vorliegen, die für die Ausprägung einzelner erblicher Merkmale verantwortlich sind, hatte Gregor Mendel schon 1865 mit seinen Erbsenkreuzungen deutlich gemacht. … Diese "Elemente", oder Erbfaktoren, von Johannsen 1906 in Gene umgetauft, hatten rein formal gesehen, die Funktion der Informatio…
„Zunächst ist Dawkins Gen nicht das Gen der Vererbungsforschung. Es ist das schwammigste Gen, das es je gab. Das jahrze[h]ntelange Bemühen der Genetik, diesen Begriff aus den Höhen der Abstraktion Mendels zu einem handfesten, wohl abgegrenzten Stück DNA zu machen, wird weggewischt, das Gen wird neu definiert als "Einheit der Selektion": "Das Gen ist ein k…
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Gen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "Gen". Here's where to go from here.
- "Gen" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "go". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #4,793 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more German words in the "G" letter cohort. G–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.