erinnervserinnernWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,074
“erinner” frequency rank
#1,509
“erinnern” frequency rank
35583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erinner erinnern
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erinnern im Gedächtnis behalten haben

Where the eye mixes erinner and erinnern

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. erinner runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against erinnern's 8 (VCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erinner
8 ch
erinnern

Look-alike desk: erinner vs erinnern

A purely visual mix-up. erinner ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐ]) and erinnern ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn]) 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) - “erinner” sits inside “erinnern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erinner is recorded at frequency rank #34,074, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐ]. erinnern is at rank #1,509, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn].

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 35583, this pair ranks #1,636,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erinner vs erinnern

Shared letters: einr. Private to "erinner": -. Private to "erinnern": -.

"erinner" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "erinnern" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erinner ← eirnner · erinenr · erinnerr · erinnre · erniner · errinner
  • erinnern ← eirnnern · erinenrn · erinern · erinnenr · erinnernn · erinnerrn · erinnren · erninern

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erinner" for "erinnern" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐ] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈʔɪnɐn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erinner" vs "erinnern" - which ranks higher?
"erinnern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,509 in our German list, against #34,074 for "erinner". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "erinner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erinnern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,636,535 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erinner" and "erinnern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eigner vs erinner". 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 #1,636,535 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