Which to use
“ewe” and “eyes” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,085
- “ewe” frequency rank
- #17,880
- “eyes” frequency rank
- 51965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ewe | eyes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ramme, weibliches Schaf, Mutterschaf | Plural des Substantivs eye |
Where the eye mixes ewe and eyes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ewe runs 3 letters (VCV) against eyes's 4 (VVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ewe with eyes
A purely visual mix-up. ewe ([juː]) and eyes ([aɪz]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51965, 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]. eyes is at rank #17,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aɪz].
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 51965, this pair ranks #1,115,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ewe vs eyes
Shared letters: e. Private to "ewe": w. Private to "eyes": sy.
"ewe" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "eyes" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- eyes ← eeys · eyess · eyse · eyyes · yees
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ewe" and "eyes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "ewe" or "eyes" show up more?
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 "ewe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eyes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,115,160 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ewe" and "eyes" 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 #1,115,160 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.