irevsIrrerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ire” and “Irrer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,189
“ire” frequency rank
#29,180
“Irrer” frequency rank
52369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ire Irrer
Definition (heftiger) Zorn (männliche^☆) Person, die an einer Psychose leidet, die verrückt ist

Where the eye mixes ire and Irrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ire
5 ch
Irrer

Look-alike desk: ire vs Irrer

A purely visual mix-up. ire ([ˈʌɪə]) and Irrer ([ˈɪʁɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52369, 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]. Irrer is at rank #29,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɪʁɐ].

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 52369, this pair ranks #1,099,563 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ire vs Irrer

Shared letters: eir. Private to "ire": -. Private to "Irrer": -.

"ire" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Irrer" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Irrerirerr · irrerr · irrre · rirer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ire" for "Irrer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈʌɪə] versus [ˈɪʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ire" or "Irrer"?
"ire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,189 in our German list, against #29,180 for "Irrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Irrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,099,563 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ire" and "Irrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Irrer vs irrte". 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 #1,099,563 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list