Which to use
“open” and “own” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,607
- “open” frequency rank
- #19,664
- “own” frequency rank
- 22271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | open | own |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas ist nicht geschlossen | eigen |
Letter map: open vs own
Shared letters muted; letters that set open and own apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Pair insight - open / own
open and own are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
open is recorded at frequency rank #2,607, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. own is at rank #19,664, tagged as anadj, pronounced [əʊn].
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 22271, this pair ranks #1,876,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of open vs own
Shared letters: no. Private to "open": ep. Private to "own": w.
"open" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "own" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- open ← oepn · openn · opne · oppen · poen
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "open" and "own" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "open" or "own" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "open" and "own". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "open" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "own" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,876,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "open" and "own" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs own". 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 #1,876,220 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.