ihrvsimpWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#72
“ihr” frequency rank
#44,702
“imp” frequency rank
44774
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ihr imp
Definition 2. Person Plural ein nicht mächtiges Fabelwesen von gedrungener Gestalt; meist grünlich/bräunliche Hautfarbe

Where the eye mixes ihr and imp

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ihr
3 ch
imp

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihr is [iːɐ̯] while imp is [ɪmp]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihr is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as apron, pronounced [iːɐ̯]. imp is at rank #44,702, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɪmp].

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 44774, this pair ranks #1,375,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ihr vs imp

Shared letters: i. Private to "ihr": hr. Private to "imp": mp.

"ihr" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "imp" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihr" and "imp" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ihr" is a pronoun and "imp" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ihr" or "imp"?
"ihr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #72 in our German list, against #44,702 for "imp". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "ihr" and "imp". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ihr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "imp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,375,144 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ihr" and "imp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imp vs IMs". Nearby pair

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