Learning German, advice or help appreciated!

[Alex K]

You'd have to given me a concrete example for that. Ihr can have different meanings. Posessive for a female person or item, as in her's, or politely adressing another person you're not very close with.

Ihr and Er shouldn't sound the same. The I in Ihr is, pardon my french, spellled like the I in shit. The H is only there to symbolize that the word is drawn out when spoken. The E in Er, well, again, think of the A in take or make and you come pretty close.

But since you mentioned Ear, come to think of it, it rather sounds like the word Ihr should be spelled.

You are making it hard.  "Ihr" sounds almost like "ear" in English.  And "Er" sounds almost like "air" in English.

The main difference between Ihr and ear for an American would probably be the rhotic r in "ear", where there is none in "Ihr". The rhotic r is one of the typical shibboleths for recognizing Americans speaking German (next to pronouncing ch as k)

For a non-rhotic Brit, it becomes harder, although the e in "ear" in England is probably closer to a schwa sound, while the i in "Ihr" is more like in english "liter".

Still, there is a subtle difference between the r in "Ihr" and the non rhotic ear, the latter being more open.

Also, the beginning has -I think- a noticeable glottal stop in German "Ihr", but ideally none in British "ear"