EisenvsewigenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,582
“Eisen” frequency rank
#8,707
“ewigen” frequency rank
14289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Eisen ewigen
Definition chemisches Element, silberweißes, bei Feuchtigkeit leicht oxidierendes Metall Genitiv Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ewig

Where the eye mixes Eisen and ewigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Eisen
6 ch
ewigen

Why the eye confuses Eisen with ewigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Eisen is [ˈaɪ̯zn̩] while ewigen is [ˈeːvɪɡn̩]. 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 14289, 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]. ewigen is at rank #8,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːvɪɡn̩].

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 14289, this pair ranks #1,952,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Eisen vs ewigen

Shared letters: ein. Private to "Eisen": s. Private to "ewigen": gw.

"Eisen" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "ewigen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Eiseneiesn · eisenn · eisne · eissen · iesen
  • ewigeneiwgen · ewgien · ewiegn · ewigenn · ewiggen · ewigne · ewwigen · weigen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Eisen" and "ewigen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Eisen" is a noun and "ewigen" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Eisen" or "ewigen"?
"Eisen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,582 in our German list, against #8,707 for "ewigen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Eisen" and "ewigen" 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 "ewigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,952,257 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Eisen" and "ewigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eisen 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 #1,952,257 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