Which to use
“equal” is a noun and “their” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,782
- “equal” frequency rank
- #11,131
- “their” frequency rank
- 52913
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | equal | their |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gleichgestellte(r), Ebenbürtige(r) | ihr |
Letter map: equal vs their
Shared letters muted; letters that set equal and their apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. equal (VCVVC) and their (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: equal vs their
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: equal is anoun and theirapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
equal is recorded at frequency rank #41,782, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. their is at rank #11,131, tagged as apron, pronounced […].
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 52913, this pair ranks #1,078,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of equal vs their
Shared letters: e. Private to "equal": alqu. Private to "their": hirt.
"equal" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "their" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "equal" and "their" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "equal" vs "their" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "equal" vs "their" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "equal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "their" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,078,381 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "equal" and "their" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "equal vs puzzles". 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 #1,078,381 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.