Which to use
“ire” is a noun and “irren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,189
- “ire” frequency rank
- #7,629
- “irren” frequency rank
- 30818
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ire | irren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (heftiger) Zorn | falsch liegen, einem Fehler aufsitzen, einen Irrtum begehen |
Where the eye mixes ire and irren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ire runs 3 letters (VCV) against irren's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ire with irren
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ire is [ˈʌɪə] while irren is [ˈɪʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30818, 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]. irren is at rank #7,629, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɪʁən].
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 30818, this pair ranks #1,740,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ire vs irren
Shared letters: eir. Private to "ire": -. Private to "irren": n.
"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "irren" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- irren ← irern · irrenn · irrne · riren
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ire" for "irren" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "ire" or "irren" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "irren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,740,477 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ire" and "irren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "IMs vs ire". 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 #1,740,477 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.