gebevsgerneTell them apart

Quick tell: gebe is a verb, gerne is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gebe” is a verb and “gerne” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,078
“gebe” frequency rank
#300
“gerne” frequency rank
1378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebe gerne
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs geben freiwillig, mit Vergnügen

Where the eye mixes gebe and gerne

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

4 ch
gebe
5 ch
gerne

Look-alike desk: gebe vs gerne

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebe is [ˈɡeːbə] while gerne is [ˈɡɛʁnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebe is recorded at frequency rank #1,078, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːbə]. gerne is at rank #300, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛʁnə].

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 1378, this pair ranks #2,004,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebe vs gerne

Shared letters: eg. Private to "gebe": b. Private to "gerne": nr.

"gebe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gerne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebeegbe · gbee · gebbe · geeb · ggebe
  • gerneegrne · geren · gernne · gerrne · ggerne · grene

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gebe" and "gerne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebe" is a verb and "gerne" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gebe" vs "gerne" - which ranks higher?
"gerne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #300 in our German list, against #1,078 for "gebe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "gebe" and "gerne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gerne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,004,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebe" and "gerne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebe vs Gebets". 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 #2,004,452 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