eightvseintWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: eight is a num, eint is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eight” is a num and “eint” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,231
“eight” frequency rank
#35,734
“eint” frequency rank
80965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eight eint
Definition acht 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs einen

Where the eye mixes eight and eint

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

5 ch
eight
4 ch
eint

Look-alike desk: eight vs eint

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eight is [eɪt] while eint is [aɪ̯nt]. 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 (num vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eight is recorded at frequency rank #45,231, classified as anum, pronounced [eɪt]. eint is at rank #35,734, tagged as averb, pronounced [aɪ̯nt].

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 80965, this pair ranks #185,058 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of eight vs eint

Shared letters: eit. Private to "eight": gh. Private to "eint": n.

"eight" · 5 letters · shape VVCCC  ·  "eint" · 4 letters · shape VVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eightegiht · eigght · eighht · eightt · eigth · eihgt · ieght
  • einteinnt · eintt · eitn · enit · ient

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eight" for "eint" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eight" is a num and "eint" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "eight" or "eint" show up more?
"eint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,734 in our German list, against #45,231 for "eight". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eight" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,058 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eight" and "eint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eight vs eigne". 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 #185,058 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