gehörevsgehörigeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,066
“gehöre” frequency rank
#26,892
“gehörige” frequency rank
32958
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehöre gehörige
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gehören Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gehörig

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
gehöre
8 ch
gehörige

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehöre is [ɡəˈhøːʁə] while gehörige is [ɡəˈhøːʁɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 32958, 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]. gehörige is at rank #26,892, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːʁɪɡə].

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 32958, this pair ranks #1,696,415 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehöre vs gehörige

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

"gehöre" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "gehörige" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

gehöre#6,066
gehörige#26,892

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehöre" and "gehörige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehöre" is a verb and "gehörige" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gehöre" or "gehörige"?
"gehöre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,066 in our German list, against #26,892 for "gehörige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gehöre vs gehörige

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “gehöre”; for an adjective, it's “gehörige”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gehöre” 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