ihrvsihrerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#72
“ihr” frequency rank
#161
“ihrer” frequency rank
233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ihr ihrer
Definition 2. Person Plural Personalpronomen 3. Person Femininum Singular Genitiv

Where the eye mixes ihr and ihrer

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

3 ch
ihr
5 ch
ihrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ihr ([iːɐ̯]) 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 differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ihr” sits inside “ihrer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihr is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as apron, pronounced [iːɐ̯]. 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 233, this pair ranks #2,006,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihr vs ihrer

Shared letters: hir. Private to "ihr": -. Private to "ihrer": e.

"ihr" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ihrer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ihrerhirer · iherr · ihhrer · ihrerr · ihrrer · irher

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihr" and "ihrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([iːɐ̯] versus [ˈiːʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ihr" or "ihrer"?
"ihr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #72 in our German list, against #161 for "ihrer". 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 "ihr" and "ihrer". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ihr" 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 #2,006,117 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ihr" and "ihrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ihr vs IMs". 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