gern vs gönn, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#616
“gern” frequency rank: #25,582
“gönn” frequency rank: 26198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gern	gönn
Definition	mit Freude	2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gönnen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gern and gönn apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

gern

4 ch

gönn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gern is [ɡɛʁn] while gönn is [ɡœn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gern is recorded at frequency rank #616, classified as anadv, pronounced [ɡɛʁn]. gönn is at rank #25,582, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡœn].

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 26198, this pair ranks #1,821,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gern vs gönn

Shared letters: gn. Private to "gern": er. Private to "gönn": ö.

"gern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "gönn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

gern ← egrn · genr · gernn · gerrn · ggern · gren

Frequency comparison

gern#616

gönn#25,582

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gern" and "gönn" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gern" is an adverb and "gönn" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "gern" or "gönn"?

"gern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #616 in our German list, against #25,582 for "gönn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gern vs gönn

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “gern”; for a verb, it's “gönn”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gern” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable