dagegenvsdarlegenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dagegen is a adverb, darlegen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dagegen” is an adverb and “darlegen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#631
“dagegen” frequency rank
#25,502
“darlegen” frequency rank
26133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dagegen darlegen
Definition gegen eine Sache; so, dass man einer Sache abgeneigt ist anderen deutlich einen Sachverhalt präsentieren, vorstellen

Where the eye mixes dagegen and darlegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dagegen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against darlegen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
dagegen
8 ch
darlegen

Visual trap between dagegen and darlegen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dagegen is [daˈɡeːɡn̩] while darlegen is [ˈdaːɐ̯ˌleːɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dagegen is recorded at frequency rank #631, classified as anadv, pronounced [daˈɡeːɡn̩]. darlegen is at rank #25,502, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdaːɐ̯ˌleːɡn̩].

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 26133, this pair ranks #1,822,651 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dagegen vs darlegen

Shared letters: adegn. Private to "dagegen": -. Private to "darlegen": lr.

"dagegen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "darlegen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dagegen ← adgegen · daeggen · dageegn · dagegenn · dageggen · dagegne · daggeen · daggegen
  • darlegen ← adrlegen · dalregen · darelgen · darleegn · darlegenn · darleggen · darlegne · darlgeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dagegen" and "darlegen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dagegen" is an adverb and "darlegen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dagegen" or "darlegen" show up more?
"dagegen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #631 in our German list, against #25,502 for "darlegen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dagegen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "darlegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,822,651 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dagegen" and "darlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "darlegen vs Darlegung". 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 #1,822,651 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