Ernest
[ˈɛrnɛst]
The verdict
“Ernest” is a moderately-common German word, ranked #26,854 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,854
- frequency rank, German
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - männlicher Vorname; Ernst
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Ernest |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈɛrnɛst] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #26,854 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Ernest” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for Ernest is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈɛrnɛst]. Corpus data places it at rank #26,854 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "männlicher Vorname; Ernst".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for Ernest, with forms such as "enrest", "erenst", and "ernesst". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "erst", "Ernst", "erneut", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Ernest, spelled E-R-N-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1männlicher Vorname; Ernst
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: enrest,erenst,ernesst,ernestt,ernets,ernnest,errnest,renest
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Ernest - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "Ernest"?
What does "Ernest" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Ernest"?
How do you pronounce "Ernest"?
What language does "Ernest" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Ernest”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is E-R-N-E-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈɛrnɛst] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “erst” - see the side-by-side comparison. Ernest vs erst
- 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.