gehorchenvsgehörigenTell them apart

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 eye mixes gehorchen and gehörigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. gehorchen (CVCVCCCVC) and gehörigen (CVCVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
gehorchen
9 ch
gehörigen

Look-alike desk: gehorchen vs gehörigen

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": iö.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehorchen ← eghorchen · gehhorchen · gehocrhen · gehorcchen · gehorcehn · gehorchenn · gehorchhen · gehorchne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gehorchen" and "gehörigen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
Frequency check: "gehorchen" vs "gehörigen" - which ranks higher?
"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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehorchen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehörigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,515,797 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehorchen" and "gehörigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehorchen vs gehorcht". 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 #1,515,797 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