irgendeinevsirgendeinerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,999
“irgendeine” frequency rank
#6,810
“irgendeiner” frequency rank
11809
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature irgendeine irgendeiner
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum im attributiven Gebrauch des Indefinitpronomens irgendein Genitiv Singular Femininum im attributiven Gebrauch des Indefinitpronomens irgendein

Where the eye mixes irgendeine and irgendeiner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. irgendeine runs 10 letters (VCCVCCVVCV) against irgendeiner's 11 (VCCVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
irgendeine
11 ch
irgendeiner

Look-alike desk: irgendeine vs irgendeiner

A purely visual mix-up. irgendeine ([ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nə]) and irgendeiner ([ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nɐ]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “irgendeine” sits inside “irgendeiner”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

irgendeine is recorded at frequency rank #4,999, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nə]. irgendeiner is at rank #6,810, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nɐ].

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 11809, this pair ranks #1,967,782 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of irgendeine vs irgendeiner

Shared letters: deginr. Private to "irgendeine": -. Private to "irgendeiner": -.

"irgendeine" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCV  ·  "irgendeiner" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • irgendeineigrendeine · iregndeine · irgedneine · irgenddeine · irgendeien · irgendeinne · irgendenie · irgendiene
  • irgendeinerigrendeiner · iregndeiner · irgedneiner · irgenddeiner · irgendeienr · irgendeinerr · irgendeinner · irgendeinre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "irgendeine" and "irgendeiner" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nə] versus [ˈɪʁɡn̩tˈʔaɪ̯nɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "irgendeine" or "irgendeiner" show up more?
"irgendeine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,999 in our German list, against #6,810 for "irgendeiner". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "irgendeine" and "irgendeiner" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "irgendeine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "irgendeiner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,782 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "irgendeine" and "irgendeiner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "irgendeiner vs irgendeines". 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 #1,967,782 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