eigenevseigenemTell them apart

Which to use

“eigene” and “eigenem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#540
“eigene” frequency rank
#5,475
“eigenem” frequency rank
6015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eigene eigenem
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs eigen Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eigen

Where the eye mixes eigene and eigenem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
eigene
7 ch
eigenem

Visual trap between eigene and eigenem

A purely visual mix-up. eigene ([ˈaɪ̯ɡənə]) and eigenem ([ˈaɪ̯ɡənəm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “eigene” sits inside “eigenem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eigene is recorded at frequency rank #540, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡənə]. eigenem is at rank #5,475, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡənəm].

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 6015, this pair ranks #1,993,004 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eigene vs eigenem

Shared letters: egin. Private to "eigene": -. Private to "eigenem": m.

"eigene" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV  ·  "eigenem" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eigeneegiene · eiegne · eigeen · eiggene · eignee · iegene
  • eigenemegienem · eiegnem · eigeenm · eigenemm · eigenme · eigennem · eiggenem · eigneem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eigene" and "eigenem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯ɡənə] versus [ˈaɪ̯ɡənəm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "eigene" or "eigenem" show up more?
"eigene" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #540 in our German list, against #5,475 for "eigenem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eigene" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eigenem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,993,004 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eigene" and "eigenem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eigene vs eignete". 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 #1,993,004 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