irevsIreneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ire is a noun, Irene is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ire” is a noun and “Irene” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,189
“ire” frequency rank
#12,314
“Irene” frequency rank
35503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ire Irene
Definition (heftiger) Zorn weiblicher Vorname

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
ire
5 ch
Irene

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ire is [ˈʌɪə] while Irene is [ˌiˈʁeːnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ire” sits inside “Irene”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ire is recorded at frequency rank #23,189, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈʌɪə]. Irene is at rank #12,314, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˌiˈʁeːnə].

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 35503, this pair ranks #1,638,468 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ire vs Irene

Shared letters: eir. Private to "ire": -. Private to "Irene": n.

"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Irene" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ireneierne · ireen · irenne · irnee · irrene

Frequency comparison

ire#23,189
Irene#12,314

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ire" and "Irene" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ire" is a noun and "Irene" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ire" or "Irene"?
"Irene" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,314 in our German list, against #23,189 for "ire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ire vs Irene

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ire”; for a name, it's “Irene”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ire” 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