gebührtvsgeführteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gebührt is a verb, geführte is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gebührt” is a verb and “geführte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,893
“gebührt” frequency rank
#10,474
“geführte” frequency rank
29367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gebührt geführte
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gebühren Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs geführt

Where the eye mixes gebührt and geführte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gebührt runs 7 letters (CVCVCCC) against geführte's 8 (CVCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gebührt
8 ch
geführte

Why the eye confuses gebührt with geführte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gebührt is [ɡəˈbyːɐ̯t] while geführte is [ɡəˈfyːɐ̯tə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gebührt is recorded at frequency rank #18,893, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈbyːɐ̯t]. geführte is at rank #10,474, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈfyːɐ̯tə].

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 29367, this pair ranks #1,768,099 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gebührt vs geführte

Shared letters: eghrtü. Private to "gebührt": b. Private to "geführte": f.

"gebührt" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC  ·  "geführte" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gebührt" and "geführte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gebührt" is a verb and "geführte" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gebührt" or "geführte" show up more?
"geführte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,474 in our German list, against #18,893 for "gebührt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gebührt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geführte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,768,099 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gebührt" and "geführte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gebührt vs genährt". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,768,099 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