EiervseineConfusable pair

Quick tell: Eier is a noun, eine is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,440
“Eier” frequency rank
#19
“eine” frequency rank
2459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eier eine
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ei [1] Nominativ Singular Femininum des unbestimmten Artikels ein

Where the eye mixes Eier and eine

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

4 ch
Eier
4 ch
eine

Visual trap between Eier and eine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eier is [ˈaɪ̯ɐ] while eine is [ˈaɪ̯nə]. 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 (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2459, 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]. eine is at rank #19, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nə].

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 2459, this pair ranks #2,002,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Eier vs eine

Shared letters: ei. Private to "Eier": r. Private to "eine": n.

"Eier" · 4 letters · shape VVVC  ·  "eine" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eiereeir · eierr · eire · ieer
  • eineeien · einne · enie · iene

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Eier" for "eine" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Eier" is a noun and "eine" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Eier" vs "eine" - which ranks higher?
"eine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19 in our German list, against #2,440 for "Eier". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Eier" and "eine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Eier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eier" and "eine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Efeu vs Eier". 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 #2,002,305 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