eignevseineTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#42,443
“eigne” frequency rank
#19
“eine” frequency rank
42462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eigne eine
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eignen [1] Nominativ Singular Femininum des unbestimmten Artikels ein

Where the eye mixes eigne and eine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
eigne
4 ch
eine

Why the eye confuses eigne with eine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eigne is [ˈaɪ̯ɡnə] while eine is [ˈaɪ̯nə]. 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 determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42462, 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]. 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 42462, this pair ranks #1,448,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eigne vs eine

Shared letters: ein. Private to "eigne": g. Private to "eine": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eigneegine · eiggne · einge · iegne
  • eineeien · einne · enie · iene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eigne" and "eine" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eigne" is a verb and "eine" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "eigne" or "eine" show up more?
"eine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19 in our German list, against #42,443 for "eigne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eigne" 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 #1,448,554 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eigne" and "eine" 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 #1,448,554 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