gebarvsGeyerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gebar is a verb, Geyer is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gebar” is a verb and “Geyer” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,346
“gebar” frequency rank
#26,902
“Geyer” frequency rank
63248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebar Geyer
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gebären eine Stadt in Sachsen, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes gebar and Geyer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
gebar
5 ch
Geyer

Why the eye confuses gebar with Geyer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebar is [ɡəˈbaːɐ̯] while Geyer is [ˈɡaɪ̯ɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebar is recorded at frequency rank #36,346, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbaːɐ̯]. Geyer is at rank #26,902, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈɡaɪ̯ɐ].

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 63248, this pair ranks #683,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gebar vs Geyer

Shared letters: egr. Private to "gebar": ab. Private to "Geyer": y.

"gebar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Geyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebaregbar · gbear · geabr · gebarr · gebbar · gebra · ggebar
  • Geyeregyer · geeyr · geyerr · geyre · geyyer · ggeyer · gyeer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gebar" for "Geyer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebar" is a verb and "Geyer" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gebar" or "Geyer" show up more?
"Geyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,902 in our German list, against #36,346 for "gebar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Geyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #683,546 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebar" and "Geyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "GBA vs gebar". 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 #683,546 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