ihres vs ire, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ihres” is an unknown and “ire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#703
“ihres” frequency rank: #23,189
“ire” frequency rank: 23892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ihres	ire
Definition	Genitiv Singular Maskulin des Possessivpronomens ihr	(heftiger) Zorn

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ihres and ire apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

ihres

3 ch

ire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihres is [ˈiːʁəs] while ire is [ˈʌɪə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihres is recorded at frequency rank #703, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈiːʁəs]. ire is at rank #23,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʌɪə].

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 23892, this pair ranks #1,855,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihres vs ire

Shared letters: eir. Private to "ihres": hs. Private to "ire": -.

"ihres" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

ihres ← hires · ihers · ihhres · ihress · ihrres · ihrse · irhes

Frequency comparison

ihres#703

ire#23,189

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihres" and "ire" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ihres" is an unknown and "ire" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ihres" or "ire"?

"ihres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #703 in our German list, against #23,189 for "ire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ihres vs ire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “ihres”; for a noun, it's “ire”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ihres” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable