ibuvsihrWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ibu is a noun, ihr is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ibu” is a noun and “ihr” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,580
“ibu” frequency rank
#72
“ihr” frequency rank
37652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ibu ihr
Definition Mutter 2. Person Plural

Letter map: ibu vs ihr

Shared letters muted; letters that set ibu and ihr apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ibu (VCV) and ihr (VCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
ibu
3 ch
ihr

Grammar separator: ibu vs ihr

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ibu is anoun and ihrapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ibu is recorded at frequency rank #37,580, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. ihr is at rank #72, tagged as apron, pronounced [iːɐ̯].

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 37652, this pair ranks #1,584,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ibu vs ihr

Shared letters: i. Private to "ibu": bu. Private to "ihr": hr.

"ibu" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ihr" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ibu" for "ihr" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ibu" is a noun and "ihr" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ibu" vs "ihr" - which ranks higher?
"ihr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #72 in our German list, against #37,580 for "ibu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "ibu" vs "ihr" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ibu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ihr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,584,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ibu" and "ihr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ibu vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,584,566 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