eignevseinesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#42,443
“eigne” frequency rank
#118
“eines” frequency rank
42561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eigne eines
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs eignen [1] unbestimmter Artikel des Maskulinums im Genitiv

Where the eye mixes eigne and eines

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

5 ch
eigne
5 ch
eines

Visual trap between eigne and eines

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eigne is [ˈaɪ̯ɡnə] while eines is [ˈaɪ̯nəs]. 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 42561, 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]. eines is at rank #118, tagged as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nəs].

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 42561, this pair ranks #1,445,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eigne vs eines

Shared letters: ein. Private to "eigne": g. Private to "eines": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eigneegine · eiggne · einge · iegne
  • eineseiens · einess · einnes · einse · enies · ienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eigne" and "eines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eigne" is a verb and "eines" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "eigne" vs "eines" - which ranks higher?
"eines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #118 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.

What to do next

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 "eines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,445,559 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eigne" and "eines" 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 #1,445,559 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