EisbergvseisernTell them apart

Quick tell: Eisberg is a noun, eisern is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Eisberg” is a noun and “eisern” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,497
“Eisberg” frequency rank
#43,835
“eisern” frequency rank
84332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eisberg eisern
Definition große, auf dem Meer schwimmende Eismasse aus dem Metall Eisen bestehend

Where the eye mixes Eisberg and eisern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Eisberg
6 ch
eisern

Why the eye confuses Eisberg with eisern

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eisberg is [ˈaɪ̯sˌbɛʁk] while eisern is [ˈaɪ̯zɐn]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Eisberg is recorded at frequency rank #40,497, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯sˌbɛʁk]. eisern is at rank #43,835, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯zɐn].

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 84332, this pair ranks #125,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Eisberg vs eisern

Shared letters: eirs. Private to "Eisberg": bg. Private to "eisern": n.

"Eisberg" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCC  ·  "eisern" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eisbergeibserg · eisbberg · eisbegr · eisbergg · eisberrg · eisbreg · eisebrg · eissberg
  • eiserneiesrn · eisenr · eisernn · eiserrn · eisren · eissern · esiern · iesern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Eisberg" for "eisern" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Eisberg" is a noun and "eisern" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Eisberg" or "eisern"?
"Eisberg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,497 in our German list, against #43,835 for "eisern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Eisberg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eisern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eisberg" and "eisern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eisern vs eiserner". 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 #125,448 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