eignevseinerTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#42,443
“eigne” frequency rank
#51
“einer” frequency rank
42494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes eigne and einer

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

5 ch
eigne
5 ch
einer

Visual trap between eigne and einer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eigne is [ˈaɪ̯ɡnə] while einer is [ˈaɪ̯nɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42494, 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]. einer is at rank #51, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nɐ].

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 42494, this pair ranks #1,447,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eigne vs einer

Shared letters: ein. Private to "eigne": g. Private to "einer": r.

"eigne" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV  ·  "einer" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eigneegine · eiggne · einge · iegne
  • einereienr · einerr · einner · einre · enier · iener

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eigne" and "einer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eigne" is a verb and "einer" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "eigne" or "einer" show up more?
"einer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #51 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "eigne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,447,573 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eigne" and "einer" 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 #1,447,573 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