er

[eːɐ̯]

/[eːɐ̯]/ pron

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“er” is in the everyday core of German, ranked #25 in German word frequency and used as a pronoun.

#25
frequency rank, German
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Personalpronomen 3. Person Neutrum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Maskulinum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswort...

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

er vs es
50% similar
er vs EU
0% similar
er vs Ex
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for er
PropertyValue
Headworder
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPronoun
IPA[eːɐ̯]
Letters2
Frequency rank#25
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “er” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). er lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for er is 2 letters long, classified as a pronoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [eːɐ̯]. Corpus data places it at rank #25 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Personalpronomen 3. Person Neutrum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Maskulinum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswort...".

er has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "es", "EU", "Ex", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is er, spelled E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Personalpronomen 3. Person Neutrum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Maskulinum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswort auf eine Person männlichen natürlichen Geschlechts verweist

Synonyms

der

Antonyms

essie

This word in other languages

he(English)él(Español)il(Français)ele(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "er"?
"er" is spelled E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [eːɐ̯].
What does "er" mean?
As a pronoun, "er" means: Personalpronomen 3. Person Neutrum Singular, welches eine zuvor benutzte Nominalphrase im Maskulinum (Person, Tier, Sache oder Abstraktum) ersetzt oder bei fehlendem oder weit entferntem Bezugswort...
What words are commonly confused with "er"?
"er" is commonly confused with "es", "EU", "Ex". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "er"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "er" is [eːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "er" come from?
"er" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “er”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [eːɐ̯] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “es” - see the side-by-side comparison. er vs es
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list