irren

[ˈɪʁən]

/[ˈɪʁən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“irren” sits in 19 confusable pairs (corpus #7,629) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#7,629
frequency rank, German
1,488
“I” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - falsch liegen, einem Fehler aufsitzen, einen Irrtum begehen

Corpus desk

Index DE-irren · irren · German

irren · rank #7,629 · 4 variants · 19 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,629
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,488
  • PHOTO-FINISH interessierten

Nearest frequency peer: interessierten (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „irren“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „irren“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

irren vs irrt
60% similar
irren vs Irrer
60% similar
irren vs irrte
60% similar

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

Key facts for irren
PropertyValue
Headwordirren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈɪʁən]
Letters5
Frequency rank#7,629
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „irren“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.irrenliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „interessierten“ (#7,628), „intensive“ (#7,627), „jenes“ (#7,631). Unter 1,488 „I“-Lemmata liegt „irren“ bei #7,629. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for irren is neighbouring look-alikes ("irrt", "Irrer", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced [ˈɪʁən]. Frequency #7,629 among 1,488 “I” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for irren, with forms such as "irern", "irrenn", and "irrne". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "irrt", "Irrer", "irrte", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is irren, spelled I-R-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    falsch liegen, einem Fehler aufsitzen, einen Irrtum begehen
  2. 2
    orientierungslos sein, ohne Ortskenntnis umherlaufen, sich verlaufen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how irren appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ich dachte, die Erde sei eine Scheibe, doch ich irrte.
  2. Wenn Du glaubst, dass ich diesen Vertrag unterschreibe, irrst Du Dich.

Synonyms

täuschendanebenliegenmissverstehenverlaufen

This word in other languages

err(English)errar(Español)tromper(Français)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • irern
  • irrenn
  • irrne
  • riren

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of irren - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

irern2irrenn1irrne2riren2
Edit distance from "irren"

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 "irren"?
"irren" is spelled I-R-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɪʁən].
What does "irren" mean?
As a verb, "irren" means: falsch liegen, einem Fehler aufsitzen, einen Irrtum begehen
What words are commonly confused with "irren"?
"irren" is commonly confused with "irrt", "Irrer", "irrte". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "irren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "irren" is [ˈɪʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "irren" come from?
"irren" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "irren", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

jenes#7,631Krimi#7,637Mafia#7,642Mutti#7,645

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list