Which to use
“Eisen” is a noun and “erben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,582
- “Eisen” frequency rank
- #6,178
- “erben” frequency rank
- 11760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Eisen | erben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | chemisches Element, silberweißes, bei Feuchtigkeit leicht oxidierendes Metall | nach dem Tod eines anderen dessen Vermögen zu Eigentum erhalten |
Where the eye mixes Eisen and erben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Eisen (VVCVC) and erben (VCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Eisen vs erben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eisen is [ˈaɪ̯zn̩] while erben is [ˈɛʁbn̩]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Eisen is recorded at frequency rank #5,582, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯zn̩]. erben is at rank #6,178, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɛʁbn̩].
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 11760, this pair ranks #1,968,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Eisen vs erben
Shared letters: en. Private to "Eisen": is. Private to "erben": br.
"Eisen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "erben" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Eisen" for "erben" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Eisen" or "erben" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Eisen" and "erben" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Eisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,968,061 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Eisen" and "erben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erben 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 #1,968,061 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.