Gemba vs. Genba -- Different Spellings or Different Words and Meanings?

Blog post

A Question -- Email From a Listener:

But I was prompted to think about this recently when I received an email from a podcast listener:

"So I heard an interesting distinction between Gemba and Genba today.

The M version is a place of work

The N version is a place of investigation (used by Japanese police).

So you go to the place of work before you go to the place of investigation."

Hmmm. I had never heard that. So I thought I'd do a little research and check with friends who have varying levels of Japanese language skills.