EiervseigenTell them apart

Quick tell: Eier is a noun, eigen is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Eier” is a noun and “eigen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,440
“Eier” frequency rank
#8,852
“eigen” frequency rank
11292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eier eigen
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ei jemandem oder etwas zugehörig, jemandem selbst gehörend

Where the eye mixes Eier and eigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Eier runs 4 letters (VVVC) against eigen's 5 (VVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Eier
5 ch
eigen

Look-alike desk: Eier vs eigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eier is [ˈaɪ̯ɐ] while eigen is [ˈaɪ̯ɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eier is recorded at frequency rank #2,440, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɐ]. eigen is at rank #8,852, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡn̩].

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 11292, this pair ranks #1,970,643 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Eier vs eigen

Shared letters: ei. Private to "Eier": r. Private to "eigen": gn.

"Eier" · 4 letters · shape VVVC  ·  "eigen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eiereeir · eierr · eire · ieer
  • eigenegien · eiegn · eiggen · iegen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Eier" and "eigen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Eier" is a noun and "eigen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Eier" or "eigen"?
"Eier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,440 in our German list, against #8,852 for "eigen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Eier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,970,643 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eier" and "eigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eigen 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 #1,970,643 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