gehörevsgehörigWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,066
“gehöre” frequency rank
#14,810
“gehörig” frequency rank
20876
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehöre gehörig
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehören zu jemandem oder etwas gehörend

Where the eye mixes gehöre and gehörig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gehöre runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against gehörig's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gehöre
7 ch
gehörig

Look-alike desk: gehöre vs gehörig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehöre is [ɡəˈhøːʁə] while gehörig is [ɡəˈhøːʁɪç]. 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 20876, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehöre is recorded at frequency rank #6,066, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːʁə]. gehörig is at rank #14,810, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːʁɪç].

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 20876, this pair ranks #1,892,729 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehöre vs gehörig

Shared letters: eghrö. Private to "gehöre": -. Private to "gehörig": i.

"gehöre" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "gehörig" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gehöre" for "gehörig" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehöre" is a verb and "gehörig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "gehöre" vs "gehörig" - which ranks higher?
"gehöre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,066 in our German list, against #14,810 for "gehörig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehöre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gehörig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,892,729 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehöre" and "gehörig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gehölze vs gehöre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,892,729 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