ebnen vs een, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ebnen” is a verb and “een” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,123
“ebnen” frequency rank: #33,012
“een” frequency rank: 74135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ebnen	een
Definition	etwas auf eine Ebene oder die gleiche Höhe bringen; eben machen	eins; einer; ein einziger

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ebnen and een apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

ebnen

3 ch

een

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ebnen is averb and eenanum. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ebnen is recorded at frequency rank #41,123, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈeːbnən]. een is at rank #33,012, tagged as anum, pronounced […].

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 74135, this pair ranks #341,503 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ebnen vs een

Shared letters: en. Private to "ebnen": b. Private to "een": -.

"ebnen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "een" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

ebnen ← benen · ebbnen · ebnenn · ebnne · ebnnen

Frequency comparison

ebnen#41,123

een#33,012

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ebnen" and "een" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ebnen" is a verb and "een" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ebnen" or "een"?

"een" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,012 in our German list, against #41,123 for "ebnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ebnen vs een

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “ebnen”; for a num, it's “een”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ebnen” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable