irrenvsirrtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,629
“irren” frequency rank
#20,308
“irrt” frequency rank
27937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature irren irrt
Definition falsch liegen, einem Fehler aufsitzen, einen Irrtum begehen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs irren

Where the eye mixes irren and irrt

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

5 ch
irren
4 ch
irrt

Why the eye confuses irren with irrt

A purely visual mix-up. irren ([ˈɪʁən]) and irrt ([ɪʁt]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

irren is recorded at frequency rank #7,629, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɪʁən]. irrt is at rank #20,308, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɪʁt].

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 27937, this pair ranks #1,793,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of irren vs irrt

Shared letters: ir. Private to "irren": en. Private to "irrt": t.

"irren" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "irrt" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • irrenirern · irrenn · irrne · riren
  • irrtirrtt · irt · irtr · rirt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "irren" and "irrt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɪʁən] versus [ɪʁt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "irren" or "irrt"?
"irren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,629 in our German list, against #20,308 for "irrt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "irren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "irrt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,793,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "irren" and "irrt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "irrt 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 #1,793,347 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