ObervsOhrWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,747
“Ober” frequency rank
#3,610
“Ohr” frequency rank
9357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ober Ohr
Definition ursprünglich Chefkellner, auch höfliche Anrede für einen einfachen Kellner Sinnesorgan zur Wahrnehmung von akustischen Signalen (Gehör)

Where the eye mixes Ober and Ohr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ober
3 ch
Ohr

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Ober ([ˈoːbɐ]) and Ohr ([oːɐ̯]) 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 9357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ober is recorded at frequency rank #5,747, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoːbɐ]. Ohr is at rank #3,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced [oːɐ̯].

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 9357, this pair ranks #1,980,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ober vs Ohr

Shared letters: or. Private to "Ober": be. Private to "Ohr": h.

"Ober" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Ohr" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Oberboer · obber · oberr · obre · oebr

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ober" and "Ohr" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoːbɐ] versus [oːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ober" or "Ohr"?
"Ohr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,610 in our German list, against #5,747 for "Ober". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Ober" and "Ohr". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ober" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ohr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,980,337 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ober" and "Ohr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs Ohr". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list