einesvsewigesTell them apart

Quick tell: eines is a determiner, ewiges is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#118
“eines” frequency rank
#24,709
“ewiges” frequency rank
24827
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eines ewiges
Definition [1] unbestimmter Artikel des Maskulinums im Genitiv Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs ewig

Where the eye mixes eines and ewiges

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. eines runs 5 letters (VVCVC) against ewiges's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
eines
6 ch
ewiges

Why the eye confuses eines with ewiges

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eines is [ˈaɪ̯nəs] while ewiges is [ˈeːvɪɡəs]. 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 (determiner vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24827, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eines is recorded at frequency rank #118, classified as adet, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯nəs]. ewiges is at rank #24,709, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːvɪɡəs].

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 24827, this pair ranks #1,842,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eines vs ewiges

Shared letters: eis. Private to "eines": n. Private to "ewiges": gw.

"eines" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "ewiges" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eines ← eiens · einess · einnes · einse · enies · ienes
  • ewiges ← eiwges · ewgies · ewiegs · ewigess · ewigges · ewigse · ewwiges · weiges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eines" for "ewiges" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eines" is a determiner and "ewiges" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "eines" or "ewiges"?
"eines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #118 in our German list, against #24,709 for "ewiges". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "eines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ewiges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,842,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eines" and "ewiges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ewiger vs ewiges". 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 #1,842,130 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