ordnevsordreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46,893
“ordne” frequency rank
#32,196
“ordre” frequency rank
79089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ordne ordre
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ordnen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ordern

Where the eye mixes ordne and ordre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ordne
5 ch
ordre

Visual trap between ordne and ordre

A purely visual mix-up. ordne ([ˈɔʁdnə]) and ordre ([ˈɔʁdʁə]) 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 a single letter - n in “ordne” becomes r in “ordre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ordne is recorded at frequency rank #46,893, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɔʁdnə]. ordre is at rank #32,196, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈɔʁdʁə].

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 79089, this pair ranks #224,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ordne vs ordre

Shared letters: deor. Private to "ordne": n. Private to "ordre": -.

"ordne" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "ordre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ordneodrne · orddne · ornde · orrdne
  • ordreodrre · orddre · ordrre · orrde · orrdre · rodre

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ordne" for "ordre" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈɔʁdnə] versus [ˈɔʁdʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ordne" vs "ordre" - which ranks higher?
"ordre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,196 in our German list, against #46,893 for "ordne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ordne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ordre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #224,029 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ordne" and "ordre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orale vs ordne". 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 #224,029 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