genauvsgeraWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: genau is a adjective, gera is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#211
“genau” frequency rank
#12,085
“gera” frequency rank
12296
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature genau gera
Definition gründlich und sorgfältig, was das Einhalten von selbstgesetzten oder fremden Regeln betrifft tun

Letter map: genau vs gera

Shared letters muted; letters that set genau and gera apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. genau runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against gera's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
genau
4 ch
gera

Role in the sentence - genau and gera

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: genau is anadjective and geraaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

genau is recorded at frequency rank #211, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈnaʊ̯]. gera is at rank #12,085, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 12296, this pair ranks #1,965,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of genau vs gera

Shared letters: aeg. Private to "genau": nu. Private to "gera": r.

"genau" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "gera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • genau ← egnau · geanu · gennau · ggenau · gneau
  • gera ← egra · gerra · ggera · grea

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "genau" for "gera" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "genau" is an adjective and "gera" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "genau" or "gera"?
"genau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #211 in our German list, against #12,085 for "gera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "genau" and "gera".

  • Full dictionary entry for "genau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,965,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "genau" and "gera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gera vs puzzles". 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 #1,965,027 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