eignevsEikeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: eigne is a verb, Eike is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eigne” is a verb and “Eike” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,443
“eigne” frequency rank
#31,516
“Eike” frequency rank
73959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eigne Eike
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eignen weiblicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes eigne and Eike

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

5 ch
eigne
4 ch
Eike

Look-alike desk: eigne vs Eike

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eigne is [ˈaɪ̯ɡnə] while Eike is [ˈaɪ̯kə]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eigne is recorded at frequency rank #42,443, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡnə]. Eike is at rank #31,516, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯kə].

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 73959, this pair ranks #346,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of eigne vs Eike

Shared letters: ei. Private to "eigne": gn. Private to "Eike": k.

"eigne" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "Eike" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eigneegine · eiggne · einge · iegne
  • Eikeeiek · eikke · ekie · ieke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eigne" for "Eike" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eigne" is a verb and "Eike" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "eigne" or "Eike" show up more?
"Eike" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,516 in our German list, against #42,443 for "eigne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eigne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Eike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #346,340 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eigne" and "Eike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eigne 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 #346,340 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