EbenevseigeneTell them apart

Quick tell: Ebene is a noun, eigene is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,875
“Ebene” frequency rank
#540
“eigene” frequency rank
2415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ebene eigene
Definition ungekrümmte, planare Fläche Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs eigen

Where the eye mixes Ebene and eigene

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Ebene
6 ch
eigene

Why the eye confuses Ebene with eigene

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ebene is [ˈeːbənə] while eigene is [ˈaɪ̯ɡənə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ebene is recorded at frequency rank #1,875, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːbənə]. eigene is at rank #540, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡənə].

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 2415, this pair ranks #2,002,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ebene vs eigene

Shared letters: en. Private to "Ebene": b. Private to "eigene": gi.

"Ebene" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "eigene" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ebenebeene · ebbene · ebeen · ebenne · ebnee · eebne
  • eigeneegiene · eiegne · eigeen · eiggene · eignee · iegene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Ebene" and "eigene" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ebene" is a noun and "eigene" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Ebene" vs "eigene" - which ranks higher?
"eigene" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #540 in our German list, against #1,875 for "Ebene". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ebene" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eigene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,404 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ebene" and "eigene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eigene vs eignete". 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 #2,002,404 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