ebnenvseinerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ebnen is a verb, einer is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#41,123
“ebnen” frequency rank
#51
“einer” frequency rank
41174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ebnen einer
Definition etwas auf eine Ebene oder die gleiche Höhe bringen; eben machen [1] Genitiv Singular Femininum des unbestimmten Artikels ein

Where the eye mixes ebnen and einer

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

5 ch
ebnen
5 ch
einer

Why the eye confuses ebnen with einer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ebnen is [ˈeːbnən] while einer is [ˈaɪ̯nɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41174, 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]. einer is at rank #51, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɐ].

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 41174, this pair ranks #1,487,172 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ebnen vs einer

Shared letters: en. Private to "ebnen": b. Private to "einer": ir.

"ebnen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "einer" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ebnenbenen · ebbnen · ebnenn · ebnne · ebnnen
  • einereienr · einerr · einner · einre · enier · iener

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ebnen" for "einer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ebnen" is a verb and "einer" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ebnen" vs "einer" - which ranks higher?
"einer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #51 in our German list, against #41,123 for "ebnen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ebnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,487,172 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ebnen" and "einer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ebnen vs Eupen". 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 #1,487,172 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