eisernvseiserneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“eisern” and “eiserne” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,835
“eisern” frequency rank
#15,611
“eiserne” frequency rank
59446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eisern eiserne
Definition aus dem Metall Eisen bestehend Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs eisern

Where the eye mixes eisern and eiserne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
eisern
7 ch
eiserne

Look-alike desk: eisern vs eiserne

A purely visual mix-up. eisern ([ˈaɪ̯zɐn]) and eiserne ([ˈaɪ̯zɐnə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “eisern” sits inside “eiserne”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eisern is recorded at frequency rank #43,835, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯zɐn]. eiserne is at rank #15,611, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯zɐnə].

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 59446, this pair ranks #824,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eisern vs eiserne

Shared letters: einrs. Private to "eisern": -. Private to "eiserne": -.

"eisern" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC  ·  "eiserne" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eiserneiesrn · eisenr · eisernn · eiserrn · eisren · eissern · esiern · iesern
  • eiserneeiesrne · eisenre · eiseren · eiserrne · eisrene · eisserne · esierne · ieserne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eisern" for "eiserne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɪ̯zɐn] versus [ˈaɪ̯zɐnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "eisern" or "eiserne"?
"eiserne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,611 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eisern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eiserne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #824,214 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eisern" and "eiserne" 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 #824,214 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