unserevsunsrerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: unsere is a determiner, unsrer is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“unsere” is a determiner and “unsrer” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#218
“unsere” frequency rank
#40,268
“unsrer” frequency rank
40486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unsere unsrer
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum attributiv des Pronomens unser Genitiv Singular Feminin des Possessivpronomens unser

Where the eye mixes unsere and unsrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. unsere (VCCVCV) and unsrer (VCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
unsere
6 ch
unsrer

Visual trap between unsere and unsrer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unsere is [ˈʊnzəʁə] while unsrer is [ˈʊnzʁɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unsere is recorded at frequency rank #218, classified as adet, pronounced [ˈʊnzəʁə]. unsrer is at rank #40,268, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈʊnzʁɐ].

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 40486, this pair ranks #1,507,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of unsere vs unsrer

Shared letters: enrsu. Private to "unsere": -. Private to "unsrer": -.

"unsere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "unsrer" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unsere ← nusere · unesre · unnsere · unseer · unserre · unsree · unssere · usnere
  • unsrer ← nusrer · unnsrer · unrser · unsrerr · unsrrer · unssrer · usnrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unsere" and "unsrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "unsere" is a determiner and "unsrer" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "unsere" or "unsrer" show up more?
"unsere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #218 in our German list, against #40,268 for "unsrer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "unsere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unsrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,507,057 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "unsere" and "unsrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unsrer vs untreu". 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 #1,507,057 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