Which to use
“immer” is an adverb and “inner” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #73
- “immer” frequency rank
- #17,331
- “inner” frequency rank
- 17404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | immer | inner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | zu jeder Zeit | in der |
Where the eye mixes immer and inner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses immer with inner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: immer is [ˈɪmɐ] while inner is [ˈɪnɐ]. 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 (adverb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
immer is recorded at frequency rank #73, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈɪmɐ]. inner is at rank #17,331, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈɪnɐ].
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 17404, this pair ranks #1,927,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of immer vs inner
Shared letters: eir. Private to "immer": m. Private to "inner": n.
"immer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "inner" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "immer" for "inner" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "immer" or "inner" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "immer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,927,693 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "immer" and "inner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inner vs innig". 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 #1,927,693 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.