grobevsGrüneWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: grobe is a adjective, Grüne is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grobe” is an adjective and “Grüne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,100
“grobe” frequency rank
#1,481
“Grüne” frequency rank
11581
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grobe Grüne
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs grob in der freien Natur, in die freie Natur

Where the eye mixes grobe and Grüne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grobe
5 ch
Grüne

Why the eye confuses grobe with Grüne

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grobe is [ˈɡʁoːbə] while Grüne is [ˈɡʁyːnə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grobe is recorded at frequency rank #10,100, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʁoːbə]. Grüne is at rank #1,481, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁyːnə].

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 11581, this pair ranks #1,969,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grobe vs Grüne

Shared letters: egr. Private to "grobe": bo. Private to "Grüne": .

"grobe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Grüne" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grobeggrobe · gorbe · grboe · grobbe · groeb · grrobe · rgobe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grobe" and "Grüne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grobe" is an adjective and "Grüne" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "grobe" or "Grüne" show up more?
"Grüne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,481 in our German list, against #10,100 for "grobe". 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 "grobe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grüne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grobe" and "Grüne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grave vs grobe". 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

Confusion rank #1,969,095 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