GewährvsgewährenTell them apart

Quick tell: Gewähr is a noun, gewähren is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gewähr” is a noun and “gewähren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,627
“Gewähr” frequency rank
#7,328
“gewähren” frequency rank
28955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gewähr gewähren
Definition Sicherheit, Bürgschaft, Garantie jemandem etwas Erwünschtes zugestehen

Where the eye mixes Gewähr and gewähren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Gewähr runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against gewähren's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Gewähr
8 ch
gewähren

Why the eye confuses Gewähr with gewähren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gewähr is [ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯] while gewähren is [ɡəˈvɛːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Gewähr” sits inside “gewähren”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28955, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gewähr is recorded at frequency rank #21,627, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛːɐ̯]. gewähren is at rank #7,328, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡəˈvɛːʁən].

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 28955, this pair ranks #1,775,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gewähr vs gewähren

Shared letters: eghrwä. Private to "Gewähr": -. Private to "gewähren": n.

"Gewähr" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "gewähren" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gewähr" and "gewähren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gewähr" is a noun and "gewähren" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Gewähr" or "gewähren" show up more?
"gewähren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,328 in our German list, against #21,627 for "Gewähr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gewähr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gewähren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,775,589 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gewähr" and "gewähren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemäht vs Gewähr". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,775,589 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