EbervsEiferWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,820
“Eber” frequency rank
#17,269
“Eifer” frequency rank
61089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eber Eifer
Definition männliches Schwein ernsthaftes Bemühen, Verfolgen eines Ziels

Where the eye mixes Eber and Eifer

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

4 ch
Eber
5 ch
Eifer

Look-alike desk: Eber vs Eifer

A purely visual mix-up. Eber ([ˈeːbɐ]) and Eifer ([ˈaɪ̯fɐ]) 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 61089, 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]. Eifer is at rank #17,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯fɐ].

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 61089, this pair ranks #762,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Eber vs Eifer

Shared letters: er. Private to "Eber": b. Private to "Eifer": fi.

"Eber" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Eifer" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eberebber · eberr · eebr
  • Eifereiefr · eiferr · eiffer · eifre · iefer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Eber" and "Eifer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeːbɐ] versus [ˈaɪ̯fɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Eber" or "Eifer" show up more?
"Eifer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,269 in our German list, against #43,820 for "Eber". 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 "Eber" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eifer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #762,697 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eber" and "Eifer" 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 #762,697 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