gebtvsgernTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,485
“gebt” frequency rank
#616
“gern” frequency rank
6101
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebt gern
Definition 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs geben mit Freude

Where the eye mixes gebt and gern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. gebt and gern follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
gebt
4 ch
gern

Why the eye confuses gebt with gern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebt is [ɡeːpt] while gern is [ɡɛʁn]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebt is recorded at frequency rank #5,485, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡeːpt]. gern is at rank #616, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ɡɛʁn].

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 6101, this pair ranks #1,992,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebt vs gern

Shared letters: eg. Private to "gebt": bt. Private to "gern": nr.

"gebt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "gern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gebtegbt · gbet · gebbt · gebtt · getb · ggebt
  • gernegrn · genr · gernn · gerrn · ggern · gren

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gebt" and "gern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebt" is a verb and "gern" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gebt" or "gern"?
"gern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #616 in our German list, against #5,485 for "gebt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,721 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebt" and "gern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gebets vs gebt". 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 #1,992,721 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