DachsvsDavosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Dachs is a noun, Davos is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Dachs” is a noun and “Davos” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,671
“Dachs” frequency rank
#17,553
“Davos” frequency rank
45224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dachs Davos
Definition ein Säugetier mit grauem Fell und markanter weiß-schwarzer Fellzeichnung am Kopf, das in den europäischen Wäldern anzutreffen ist; der Europäische Dachs eine Gemeinde im schweizerischen Kanton Graubünden

Where the eye mixes Dachs and Davos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Dachs (CVCCC) and Davos (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Dachs
5 ch
Davos

Why the eye confuses Dachs with Davos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dachs is [daks] while Davos is [daˈfoːs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dachs is recorded at frequency rank #27,671, classified as anoun, pronounced [daks]. Davos is at rank #17,553, tagged as aname, pronounced [daˈfoːs].

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 45224, this pair ranks #1,360,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Dachs vs Davos

Shared letters: ads. Private to "Dachs": ch. Private to "Davos": ov.

"Dachs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Davos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dachs ← adchs · dacchs · dachhs · dachss · dacsh · dahcs · dcahs · ddachs
  • Davos ← advos · daovs · davoss · davso · davvos · ddavos · dvaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Dachs" for "Davos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dachs" is a noun and "Davos" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Dachs" or "Davos" show up more?
"Davos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,553 in our German list, against #27,671 for "Dachs". 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 "Dachs" and "Davos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dachs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Davos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,360,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dachs" and "Davos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dachs vs Docks". 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 #1,360,329 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list