offenvsOhrenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: offen is a adjective, Ohren is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“offen” is an adjective and “Ohren” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#888
“offen” frequency rank
#2,778
“Ohren” frequency rank
3666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature offen Ohren
Definition nicht geschlossen, zum Beispiel als Zustandsbeschreibung einer Eingangsmöglichkeit Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Ohr

Where the eye mixes offen and Ohren

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

5 ch
offen
5 ch
Ohren

Look-alike desk: offen vs Ohren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: offen is [ˈɔfn̩] while Ohren is [ˈoːʁən]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

offen is recorded at frequency rank #888, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɔfn̩]. Ohren is at rank #2,778, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈoːʁən].

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 3666, this pair ranks #1,999,677 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of offen vs Ohren

Shared letters: eno. Private to "offen": f. Private to "Ohren": hr.

"offen" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Ohren" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • offenfofen · ofefn · offenn · offne
  • Ohrenhoren · ohern · ohhren · ohrenn · ohrne · ohrren · orhen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "offen" and "Ohren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "offen" is an adjective and "Ohren" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "offen" or "Ohren"?
"offen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #888 in our German list, against #2,778 for "Ohren". 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 "offen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ohren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,999,677 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "offen" and "Ohren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Oasen vs Ohren". 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 #1,999,677 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