gernvsgerneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#616
“gern” frequency rank
#300
“gerne” frequency rank
916
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gern gerne
Definition mit Freude freiwillig, mit Vergnügen

Where the eye mixes gern and gerne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gern
5 ch
gerne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gern ([ɡɛʁn]) and gerne ([ˈɡɛʁnə]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “gern” sits inside “gerne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gern is recorded at frequency rank #616, classified as anadv, pronounced [ɡɛʁn]. gerne is at rank #300, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡɛʁnə].

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 916, this pair ranks #2,005,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gern vs gerne

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "gern": -. Private to "gerne": -.

"gern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "gerne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gernegrn · genr · gernn · gerrn · ggern · gren
  • gerneegrne · geren · gernne · gerrne · ggerne · grene

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gern" and "gerne" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡɛʁn] versus [ˈɡɛʁnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gern" or "gerne"?
"gerne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #300 in our German list, against #616 for "gern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "gern" and "gerne". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gerne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,164 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gern" and "gerne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs gern". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list