einvseinerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ein is a noun, einer is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ein” is a noun and “einer” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,865
“ein” frequency rank
#48,484
“einer” frequency rank
65349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ein einer
Definition Variante de haim. Génitif féminin singulier de la déclinaison forte de ein.

Where the eye mixes ein and einer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ein runs 3 letters (VVC) against einer's 5 (VVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ein
5 ch
einer

Why the eye confuses ein with einer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ein is \ɛ̃\ while einer is \ˈaɪ̯nɐ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ein” sits inside “einer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ein is recorded at frequency rank #16,865, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃\. einer is at rank #48,484, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈaɪ̯nɐ\.

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 65349, this pair ranks #72,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ein vs einer

Shared letters: ein. Private to "ein": -. Private to "einer": r.

"ein" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "einer" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • einer ← eienr · einerr · einner · einre · enier · iener

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ein" and "einer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ein" is a noun and "einer" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ein" or "einer" show up more?
"ein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,865 in our French list, against #48,484 for "einer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ein" and "einer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "einer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,797 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ein" and "einer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "einer vs épier". 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 #72,797 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list