Which to use
“ihren” is an unknown and “Irene” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #171
- “ihren” frequency rank
- #12,314
- “Irene” frequency rank
- 12485
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ihren | Irene |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des femininen Possessivpronomens ihr | weiblicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes ihren and Irene
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ihren (VCCVC) and Irene (VCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ihren vs Irene
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihren is [ˈiːʁən] while Irene is [ˌiˈʁeːnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12485, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ihren is recorded at frequency rank #171, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈiːʁən]. Irene is at rank #12,314, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˌiˈʁeːnə].
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 12485, this pair ranks #1,963,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ihren vs Irene
Shared letters: einr. Private to "ihren": h. Private to "Irene": -.
"ihren" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "Irene" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ihren" for "Irene" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ihren" or "Irene"?
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 "ihren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Irene" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,963,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ihren" and "Irene" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Irene vs irrte". 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 #1,963,905 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.