gestehen
[ɡəˈʃteːən]
The verdict
“gestehen” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #10,859 in German word frequency and used as a verb.
- #10,859
- frequency rank, German
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - etwas offen zugeben; ein Geständnis ablegen
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 | gestehen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ɡəˈʃteːən] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #10,859 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gestehen” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for gestehen is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ɡəˈʃteːən]. Corpus data places it at rank #10,859 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "etwas offen zugeben; ein Geständnis ablegen".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for gestehen, with forms such as "egstehen", "gesethen", and "gesstehen". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "Gesten", "gestern", "gesteht", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 gestehen, spelled G-E-S-T-E-H-E-N.
Definition
- 1etwas offen zugeben; ein Geständnis ablegen
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: egstehen,gesethen,gesstehen,gesteehn,gestehenn,gestehhen,gestehne,gestheen,gesttehen,getsehen,ggestehen,gsetehen
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gestehen - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "gestehen"?
What does "gestehen" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "gestehen"?
How do you pronounce "gestehen"?
What language does "gestehen" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “gestehen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is G-E-S-T-E-H-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ɡəˈʃteːən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Gesten” - see the side-by-side comparison. gestehen vs Gesten
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.