ebnenvseinesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#41,123
“ebnen” frequency rank
#118
“eines” frequency rank
41241
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ebnen eines
Definition etwas auf eine Ebene oder die gleiche Höhe bringen; eben machen [1] unbestimmter Artikel des Maskulinums im Genitiv

Where the eye mixes ebnen and eines

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

5 ch
ebnen
5 ch
eines

Look-alike desk: ebnen vs eines

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ebnen is [ˈeːbnən] while eines is [ˈaɪ̯nəs]. 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 41241, 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]. eines is at rank #118, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nəs].

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 41241, this pair ranks #1,485,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ebnen vs eines

Shared letters: en. Private to "ebnen": b. Private to "eines": is.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ebnenbenen · ebbnen · ebnenn · ebnne · ebnnen
  • eineseiens · einess · einnes · einse · enies · ienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ebnen" for "eines" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ebnen" is a verb and "eines" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ebnen" or "eines"?
"eines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #118 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.

What to do next

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 "eines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,485,262 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ebnen" and "eines" 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 #1,485,262 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