gehörenvsgehörigenConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#791
“gehören” frequency rank
#20,595
“gehörigen” frequency rank
21386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gehören gehörigen
Definition etwas/jemand gehört jemandem: Eigentum von einer Person sein Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gehörig

Where the eye mixes gehören and gehörigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. gehören runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against gehörigen's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
gehören
9 ch
gehörigen

Look-alike desk: gehören vs gehörigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gehören is [ɡəˈhøːʁən] while gehörigen is [ɡəˈhøːʁɪɡn̩]. 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 21386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gehören is recorded at frequency rank #791, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈhøːʁən]. 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 21386, this pair ranks #1,886,891 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gehören vs gehörigen

Shared letters: eghnrö. Private to "gehören": -. Private to "gehörigen": i.

"gehören" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "gehörigen" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gehören" and "gehörigen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gehören" is a verb and "gehörigen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gehören" or "gehörigen"?
"gehören" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #791 in our German list, against #20,595 for "gehörigen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gehören" 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 #1,886,891 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gehören" and "gehörigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gehörige vs gehörigen". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,886,891 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