Which to use
“ihn” is a pronoun and “Inn” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #140
- “ihn” frequency rank
- #8,396
- “Inn” frequency rank
- 8536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ihn | Inn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personalpronomen 3. Person Maskulinum Singular Akkusativ | der größte rechte Nebenfluss der oberen Donau; entspringt am Malojapass (Graubünden), bildet im Ober- und Mittellauf ein großes Alpenlängstal und mündet nach 510 km Flusslauf bei Passau in die Donau |
Where the eye mixes ihn and Inn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ihn with Inn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihn is [iːn] while Inn is [ɪn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “ihn” becomes n in “Inn”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ihn is recorded at frequency rank #140, classified as apron, pronounced [iːn]. Inn is at rank #8,396, tagged as aname, pronounced [ɪn].
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 8536, this pair ranks #1,983,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ihn vs Inn
Shared letters: in. Private to "ihn": h. Private to "Inn": -.
"ihn" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "Inn" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ihn" and "Inn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "ihn" or "Inn" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ihn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Inn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,983,894 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ihn" and "Inn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs Inn". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,983,894 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.