IdeevsireTell them apart

Which to use

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

#545
“Idee” frequency rank
#23,189
“ire” frequency rank
23734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Idee ire
Definition Urbild einer Erscheinung (heftiger) Zorn

Where the eye mixes Idee and ire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Idee
3 ch
ire

Visual trap between Idee and ire

A purely visual mix-up. Idee ([iˈdeː]) and ire ([ˈʌɪə]) 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 23734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Idee is recorded at frequency rank #545, classified as anoun, pronounced [iˈdeː]. ire is at rank #23,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʌɪə].

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 23734, this pair ranks #1,857,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Idee vs ire

Shared letters: ei. Private to "Idee": d. Private to "ire": r.

"Idee" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ideediee · iddee · ide · iede

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Idee" and "ire" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([iˈdeː] versus [ˈʌɪə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Idee" or "ire" show up more?
"Idee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #545 in our German list, against #23,189 for "ire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Idee" and "ire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Idee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,857,295 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Idee" and "ire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs ire". 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 #1,857,295 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