inkvsireWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,363
“ink” frequency rank
#23,189
“ire” frequency rank
68552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ink ire
Definition Tinte (heftiger) Zorn

Where the eye mixes ink and ire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ink
3 ch
ire

Look-alike desk: ink vs ire

A purely visual mix-up. ink ([ɪŋk]) and ire ([ˈʌɪə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ink is recorded at frequency rank #45,363, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɪŋk]. 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 68552, this pair ranks #504,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ink vs ire

Shared letters: i. Private to "ink": kn. Private to "ire": er.

"ink" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ink" for "ire" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɪŋk] versus [ˈʌɪə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ink" vs "ire" - which ranks higher?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,189 in our German list, against #45,363 for "ink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ink" and "ire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ink" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #504,154 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ink" and "ire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs ink". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #504,154 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