gernvsGinWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gern is a adverb, Gin is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gern” is an adverb and “Gin” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#616
“gern” frequency rank
#13,157
“Gin” frequency rank
13773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gern Gin
Definition mit Freude Spirituose mit Wacholder, Hauptbestandteil vieler Cocktails, besonders des Martinis

Where the eye mixes gern and Gin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gern
3 ch
Gin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gern is [ɡɛʁn] while Gin is [d͡ʒɪn]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gern is recorded at frequency rank #616, classified as anadv, pronounced [ɡɛʁn]. Gin is at rank #13,157, tagged as anoun, pronounced [d͡ʒɪn].

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 13773, this pair ranks #1,955,785 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gern vs Gin

Shared letters: gn. Private to "gern": er. Private to "Gin": i.

"gern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Gin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gernegrn · genr · gernn · gerrn · ggern · gren

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gern" and "Gin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gern" is an adverb and "Gin" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gern" or "Gin"?
"gern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #616 in our German list, against #13,157 for "Gin". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list