Which to use
“eine” is a determiner and “Eule” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19
- “eine” frequency rank
- #17,286
- “Eule” frequency rank
- 17305
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eine | Eule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | [1] Nominativ Singular Femininum des unbestimmten Artikels ein | nachtaktiver, in Wäldern lebender Raubvogel mit kurzem, krummem Schnabel und großen, scharfen Augen, der seinen rundlichen Kopf bis zu 270° drehen kann |
Where the eye mixes eine and Eule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: eine vs Eule
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eine is [ˈaɪ̯nə] while Eule is [ˈɔɪ̯lə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eine is recorded at frequency rank #19, classified as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nə]. Eule is at rank #17,286, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔɪ̯lə].
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 17305, this pair ranks #1,928,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of eine vs Eule
Shared letters: e. Private to "eine": in. Private to "Eule": lu.
"eine" · 4 letters · shape VVCV · "Eule" · 4 letters · shape VVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "eine" and "Eule" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "eine" or "Eule" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "Eule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,928,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eine" and "Eule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eule vs Eupen". 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 #1,928,548 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.