Which to use
“dachten” and “drehten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,891
- “dachten” frequency rank
- #17,260
- “drehten” frequency rank
- 25151
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dachten | drehten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs denken | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drehen |
Where the eye mixes dachten and drehten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dachten (CVCCCVC) and drehten (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between dachten and drehten
A purely visual mix-up. dachten ([ˈdaxtn̩]) and drehten ([ˈdʁeːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dachten is recorded at frequency rank #7,891, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdaxtn̩]. drehten is at rank #17,260, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːtn̩].
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 25151, this pair ranks #1,837,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dachten vs drehten
Shared letters: dehnt. Private to "dachten": ac. Private to "drehten": r.
"dachten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "drehten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dachten" and "drehten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dachten" or "drehten" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dachten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drehten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,837,407 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dachten" and "drehten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dachten vs deckten". 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 #1,837,407 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.