gehorchtvsgehörtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gehorcht” and “gehört” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,072
“gehorcht” frequency rank
#317
“gehört” frequency rank
33389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehorcht gehört
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehorchen Partizip Perfekt des Verbs hören

Where the eye mixes gehorcht and gehört

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gehorcht runs 8 letters (CVCVCCCC) against gehört's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
gehorcht
6 ch
gehört

Look-alike desk: gehorcht vs gehört

A purely visual mix-up. gehorcht ([ɡəˈhɔʁçt]) and gehört ([ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehorcht is recorded at frequency rank #33,072, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhɔʁçt]. gehört is at rank #317, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t].

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 33389, this pair ranks #1,686,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehorcht vs gehört

Shared letters: eghrt. Private to "gehorcht": co. Private to "gehört": ö.

"gehorcht" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCC  ·  "gehört" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gehorcht ← eghorcht · gehhorcht · gehocrht · gehorccht · gehorchht · gehorchtt · gehorcth · gehorhct

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gehorcht" and "gehört" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈhɔʁçt] versus [ɡəˈhøːɐ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gehorcht" or "gehört" show up more?
"gehört" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #317 in our German list, against #33,072 for "gehorcht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehorcht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehört" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,686,995 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehorcht" and "gehört" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geforscht 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 #1,686,995 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