ihresvsIrrerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ihres is a unknown, Irrer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#703
“ihres” frequency rank
#29,180
“Irrer” frequency rank
29883
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ihres Irrer
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulin des Possessivpronomens ihr (männliche^☆) Person, die an einer Psychose leidet, die verrückt ist

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
ihres
5 ch
Irrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ihres is [ˈiːʁəs] while Irrer is [ˈɪʁɐ]. 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 (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ihres is recorded at frequency rank #703, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈiːʁəs]. Irrer is at rank #29,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɪʁɐ].

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 29883, this pair ranks #1,758,447 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ihres vs Irrer

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

"ihres" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Irrer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ihreshires · ihers · ihhres · ihress · ihrres · ihrse · irhes
  • Irrerirerr · irrerr · irrre · rirer

Frequency comparison

ihres#703
Irrer#29,180

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ihres" and "Irrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ihres" is an unknown and "Irrer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ihres" or "Irrer"?
"ihres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #703 in our German list, against #29,180 for "Irrer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ihres vs Irrer

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 “Irrer”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list