gönnevsGönnerConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#22,365
“gönne” frequency rank
#26,042
“Gönner” frequency rank
48407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gönne Gönner
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gönnen wohlhabende, einflussreiche Person, die jemand anderen (Künstler oder Einrichtung) in seinen Bestrebungen mit Geld unterstützt

Where the eye mixes gönne and Gönner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
gönne
6 ch
Gönner

Look-alike desk: gönne vs Gönner

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gönne is [ˈɡœnə] while Gönner is [ˈɡœnɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gönne” sits inside “Gönner”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gönne is recorded at frequency rank #22,365, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡœnə]. Gönner is at rank #26,042, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡœnɐ].

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 48407, this pair ranks #1,249,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gönne vs Gönner

Shared letters: egnö. Private to "gönne": -. Private to "Gönner": r.

"gönne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Gönner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gönne" for "Gönner" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gönne" is a verb and "Gönner" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gönne" or "Gönner" show up more?
"gönne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,365 in our German list, against #26,042 for "Gönner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gönne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gönner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,249,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gönne" and "Gönner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ganser vs Gönner". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,249,680 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