ihnenvsihrerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#170
“ihnen” frequency rank
#161
“ihrer” frequency rank
331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ihnen ihrer
Definition Personalpronomen 3. Person Plural Dativ Personalpronomen 3. Person Femininum Singular Genitiv

Where the eye mixes ihnen and ihrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ihnen
5 ch
ihrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ihnen ([ˈiːnən]) and ihrer ([ˈiːʁɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihnen is recorded at frequency rank #170, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈiːnən]. ihrer is at rank #161, tagged as apron, pronounced [ˈiːʁɐ].

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 331, this pair ranks #2,005,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihnen vs ihrer

Shared letters: ehi. Private to "ihnen": n. Private to "ihrer": r.

"ihnen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "ihrer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ihnenhinen · ihenn · ihhnen · ihnenn · ihnne · ihnnen · inhen
  • ihrerhirer · iherr · ihhrer · ihrerr · ihrrer · irher

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihnen" and "ihrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈiːnən] versus [ˈiːʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ihnen" or "ihrer"?
"ihrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #161 in our German list, against #170 for "ihnen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "ihnen" and "ihrer". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ihnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ihrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,979 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ihnen" and "ihrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "igen vs ihnen". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list