EbervsEheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Eber” and “Ehe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,820
“Eber” frequency rank
#1,071
“Ehe” frequency rank
44891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eber Ehe
Definition männliches Schwein institutionell anerkannte und beurkundete Verbindung zweier Menschen, die in der Regel durch eine Liebesbeziehung, gemeinsame Lebensführung und dauerhaftes Bestehen (sowie oft, aber nicht überall, auch durch den Ausschluss einer gleichzeitigen gleichartigen Verbindung mit einem Dritten) gekennzeichnet ist

Where the eye mixes Eber and Ehe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Eber
3 ch
Ehe

Why the eye confuses Eber with Ehe

A purely visual mix-up. Eber ([ˈeːbɐ]) and Ehe ([ˈeːə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eber is recorded at frequency rank #43,820, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːbɐ]. Ehe is at rank #1,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːə].

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 44891, this pair ranks #1,371,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Eber vs Ehe

Shared letters: e. Private to "Eber": br. Private to "Ehe": h.

"Eber" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Ehe" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eberebber · eberr · eebr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Eber" and "Ehe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːbɐ] versus [ˈeːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Eber" vs "Ehe" - which ranks higher?
"Ehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,071 in our German list, against #43,820 for "Eber". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Eber" and "Ehe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Eber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ehe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,371,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eber" and "Ehe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eber vs Efeu". 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 #1,371,282 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