irevsirrenWhat's the difference?

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

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 spellings diverge

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

3 ch
ire
5 ch
irren

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • irrenirern · irrenn · irrne · riren

Frequency comparison

ire#23,189
irren#7,629

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ire" and "irren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ire" is a noun and "irren" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ire" or "irren"?
"irren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,629 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 irren

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ire”; for a verb, it's “irren”.
  • 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