einevsEnnsConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#19
“eine” frequency rank
#35,161
“Enns” frequency rank
35180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eine Enns
Definition [1] Nominativ Singular Femininum des unbestimmten Artikels ein der österreichische Fluss Enns

Where the eye mixes eine and Enns

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
eine
4 ch
Enns

Why the eye confuses eine with Enns

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eine is [ˈaɪ̯nə] while Enns is [ɛns]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eine is recorded at frequency rank #19, classified as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nə]. Enns is at rank #35,161, tagged as aname, pronounced [ɛns].

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 35180, this pair ranks #1,646,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eine vs Enns

Shared letters: en. Private to "eine": i. Private to "Enns": s.

"eine" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "Enns" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eineeien · einne · enie · iene
  • Ennsennss · ens · ensn · nens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eine" and "Enns" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eine" is a determiner and "Enns" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "eine" or "Enns"?
"eine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19 in our German list, against #35,161 for "Enns". 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 "eine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Enns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,646,098 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eine" and "Enns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Edna vs Enns". 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 #1,646,098 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