gebenvsGebotWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: geben is a verb, Gebot is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“geben” is a verb and “Gebot” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#229
“geben” frequency rank
#8,717
“Gebot” frequency rank
8946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature geben Gebot
Definition jemandem etwas reichen beziehungsweise in die Nähe oder Hände legen Verpflichtung oder Anweisung

Where the eye mixes geben and Gebot

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

5 ch
geben
5 ch
Gebot

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: geben is [ˈɡeːbn̩] while Gebot is [ɡəˈboːt]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

geben is recorded at frequency rank #229, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡeːbn̩]. Gebot is at rank #8,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈboːt].

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 8946, this pair ranks #1,982,104 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of geben vs Gebot

Shared letters: beg. Private to "geben": n. Private to "Gebot": ot.

"geben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Gebot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebenegben · gbeen · gebben · gebenn · gebne · geebn · ggeben
  • Gebotegbot · gbeot · gebbot · gebott · gebto · geobt · ggebot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "geben" and "Gebot" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "geben" is a verb and "Gebot" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "geben" or "Gebot"?
"geben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #229 in our German list, against #8,717 for "Gebot". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list