InnvsistWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Inn is a name, ist is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Inn” is a name and “ist” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,396
“Inn” frequency rank
#7
“ist” frequency rank
8403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Inn ist
Definition der größte rechte Nebenfluss der oberen Donau; entspringt am Malojapass (Graubünden), bildet im Ober- und Mittellauf ein großes Alpenlängstal und mündet nach 510 km Flusslauf bei Passau in die Donau 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs sein

Where the eye mixes Inn and ist

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

3 ch
Inn
3 ch
ist

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Inn is [ɪn] while ist is [ɪst]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Inn is recorded at frequency rank #8,396, classified as aname, pronounced [ɪn]. ist is at rank #7, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪst].

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 8403, this pair ranks #1,984,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Inn vs ist

Shared letters: i. Private to "Inn": n. Private to "ist": st.

"Inn" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ist" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Inn" and "ist" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Inn" is a name and "ist" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Inn" or "ist"?
"ist" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7 in our German list, against #8,396 for "Inn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "Inn" and "ist". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Inn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ist" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,984,437 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Inn" and "ist" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs Inn". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list