EfeuvseverTell them apart

Quick tell: Efeu is a noun, ever is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Efeu” is a noun and “ever” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,090
“Efeu” frequency rank
#13,356
“ever” frequency rank
61446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Efeu ever
Definition Pflanzengattung aus der Familie der Araliengewächse (Araliaceae) immer

Letter map: Efeu vs ever

Shared letters muted; letters that set Efeu and ever apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Efeu (VCVV) and ever (VCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Efeu
4 ch
ever

Grammar separator: Efeu vs ever

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Efeu is anoun and everanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Efeu is recorded at frequency rank #48,090, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeːfɔɪ̯]. ever is at rank #13,356, tagged as anadv, 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 61446, this pair ranks #749,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Efeu vs ever

Shared letters: e. Private to "Efeu": fu. Private to "ever": rv.

"Efeu" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "ever" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Efeu ← eefu · effeu · efue · feeu
  • ever ← eevr · everr · evre · evver · veer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Efeu" for "ever" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Efeu" is a noun and "ever" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Efeu" or "ever" show up more?
"ever" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,356 in our German list, against #48,090 for "Efeu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "Efeu" and "ever". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Efeu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ever" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #749,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Efeu" and "ever" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Efeu vs Elfe". 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 #749,452 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