The Awful German Language or What do these three things have in common?
German speakers will realize immediately that they are all translated into German using the word “Band” — but the first one is neuter (das Band), the second one is feminine (die Band, which seems to be borrowed from the English and tends to be pronounced more in the English way), and the third one is masculine (der Band). In addition, they all have different forms in the plural — die Bänder (the ribbons), die Bands (the [rock] bands), and die Bände (the books, the volumes, in case you have more than one volume of Goethe, for example).
The good news is that you can tell them apart — if you’ve managed to internalize the above rules.
Happy Saturday!
ecbinvienna 
Oh, God, German articles!! Sometimes it is just easier to say “deh” or something mumbly like that! I still remember when the director of the Jeunesse Chor in Vienna doubted which was the correct article to use, and the choir members all chimed in with their opinions! Was it dative or accusative? That made me relax a bit, since even native speakers sometimes have questions.