innenvsinnereWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: innen is a adverb, innere is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“innen” is an adverb and “innere” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,600
“innen” frequency rank
#2,972
“innere” frequency rank
4572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature innen innere
Definition an/auf der inneren Seite; im Innern Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs inner-

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set innen and innere apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
innen
6 ch
innere

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: innen is [ˈɪnən] while innere is [ˈɪnəʁə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

innen is recorded at frequency rank #1,600, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈɪnən]. innere is at rank #2,972, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɪnəʁə].

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 4572, this pair ranks #1,997,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of innen vs innere

Shared letters: ein. Private to "innen": -. Private to "innere": r.

"innen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "innere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inneninen · inenn · innenn · innne · ninen
  • innereinenre · inere · inneer · innerre · innree · ninere

Frequency comparison

innen#1,600
innere#2,972

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "innen" and "innere" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "innen" is an adverb and "innere" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "innen" or "innere"?
"innen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,600 in our German list, against #2,972 for "innere". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering innen vs innere

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “innen”; for an adjective, it's “innere”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “innen” 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