Which to use
“ewe” is a noun and “ewige” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,085
- “ewe” frequency rank
- #7,914
- “ewige” frequency rank
- 41999
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ewe | ewige |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ramme, weibliches Schaf, Mutterschaf | Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs ewig |
Where the eye mixes ewe and ewige
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ewe vs ewige
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ewe is [juː] while ewige is [ˈeːvɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 41999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ewe is recorded at frequency rank #34,085, classified as anoun, pronounced [juː]. ewige is at rank #7,914, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeːvɪɡə].
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 41999, this pair ranks #1,462,679 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ewe vs ewige
Shared letters: ew. Private to "ewe": -. Private to "ewige": gi.
"ewe" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ewige" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ewige ← eiwge · ewgie · ewieg · ewigge · ewwige · weige
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ewe" for "ewige" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ewe" vs "ewige" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ewe" and "ewige" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ewe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ewige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,462,679 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ewe" and "ewige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Erle vs ewe". 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 #1,462,679 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.