ihrenvsihresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#171
“ihren” frequency rank
#703
“ihres” frequency rank
874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ihren ihres
Definition Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des femininen Possessivpronomens ihr Genitiv Singular Maskulin des Possessivpronomens ihr

Where the eye mixes ihren and ihres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ihren
5 ch
ihres

Why the eye confuses ihren with ihres

A purely visual mix-up. ihren ([ˈiːʁən]) and ihres ([ˈiːʁəs]) 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 a single letter - n in “ihren” becomes s in “ihres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihren is recorded at frequency rank #171, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈiːʁən]. ihres is at rank #703, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈiːʁəs].

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 874, this pair ranks #2,005,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihren vs ihres

Shared letters: ehir. Private to "ihren": n. Private to "ihres": s.

"ihren" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "ihres" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ihrenhiren · ihern · ihhren · ihrenn · ihrne · ihrren · irhen
  • ihreshires · ihers · ihhres · ihress · ihrres · ihrse · irhes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihren" and "ihres" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈiːʁən] versus [ˈiːʁəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ihren" or "ihres" show up more?
"ihren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #171 in our German list, against #703 for "ihres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ihren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ihres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,005,228 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ihren" and "ihres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "igen vs ihren". 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 #2,005,228 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