jedervsjenesTell them apart

Quick tell: jeder is a pronoun, jenes is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jeder” is a pronoun and “jenes” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#221
“jeder” frequency rank
#7,631
“jenes” frequency rank
7852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jeder jenes
Definition ein Einzelner (eine Einzelne, ein Einzelnes) zusammen mit allen anderen einer Gruppe Genitiv Singular Maskulinum des Demonstrativpronomens jener

Where the eye mixes jeder and jenes

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

5 ch
jeder
5 ch
jenes

Why the eye confuses jeder with jenes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jeder is [ˈjeːdɐ] while jenes is [ˈjeːnəs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jeder is recorded at frequency rank #221, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈjeːdɐ]. jenes is at rank #7,631, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈjeːnəs].

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 7852, this pair ranks #1,986,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jeder vs jenes

Shared letters: ej. Private to "jeder": dr. Private to "jenes": ns.

"jeder" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "jenes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jederejder · jdeer · jedder · jederr · jedre · jeedr · jjeder
  • jenesejnes · jeens · jeness · jennes · jense · jjenes · jnees

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "jeder" for "jenes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jeder" is a pronoun and "jenes" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "jeder" vs "jenes" - which ranks higher?
"jeder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #221 in our German list, against #7,631 for "jenes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jeder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jenes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,986,628 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jeder" and "jenes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jed vs jeder". 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 #1,986,628 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