eintvsEnteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: eint is a verb, Ente is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eint” is a verb and “Ente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,734
“eint” frequency rank
#10,642
“Ente” frequency rank
46376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eint Ente
Definition 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs einen kleinerer Wasservogel aus der Familie der Entenvögel (Anatidae), speziell

Where the eye mixes eint and Ente

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
eint
4 ch
Ente

Why the eye confuses eint with Ente

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eint is [aɪ̯nt] while Ente is [ˈɛntə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eint is recorded at frequency rank #35,734, classified as averb, pronounced [aɪ̯nt]. Ente is at rank #10,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɛntə].

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 46376, this pair ranks #1,321,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eint vs Ente

Shared letters: ent. Private to "eint": i. Private to "Ente": -.

"eint" · 4 letters · shape VVCC  ·  "Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • einteinnt · eintt · eitn · enit · ient
  • Enteenet · ennte · etne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eint" and "Ente" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eint" is a verb and "Ente" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "eint" or "Ente" show up more?
"Ente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,642 in our German list, against #35,734 for "eint". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "eint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,321,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eint" and "Ente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "EBIT vs eint". 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 #1,321,176 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