gehorchenvsgehörigenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,586
“gehorchen” frequency rank
#20,595
“gehörigen” frequency rank
40181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehorchen gehörigen
Definition einer Anweisung Folge leisten; einen Befehl ausführen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gehörig

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gehorchen and gehörigen apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
gehorchen
9 ch
gehörigen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehorchen is [ɡəˈhɔʁçn̩] while gehörigen is [ɡəˈhøːʁɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehorchen is recorded at frequency rank #19,586, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔʁçn̩]. gehörigen is at rank #20,595, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːʁɪɡn̩].

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 40181, this pair ranks #1,515,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehorchen vs gehörigen

Shared letters: eghnr. Private to "gehorchen": co. Private to "gehörigen": .

"gehorchen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC  ·  "gehörigen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehorcheneghorchen · gehhorchen · gehocrhen · gehorcchen · gehorcehn · gehorchenn · gehorchhen · gehorchne

Frequency comparison

gehorchen#19,586
gehörigen#20,595

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehorchen" and "gehörigen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehorchen" is a verb and "gehörigen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gehorchen" or "gehörigen"?
"gehorchen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,586 in our German list, against #20,595 for "gehörigen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gehorchen vs gehörigen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “gehorchen”; for an adjective, it's “gehörigen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gehorchen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list