dansvsDungWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dans is a preposition, Dung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dans” is a preposition and “Dung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,326
“dans” frequency rank
#45,866
“Dung” frequency rank
61192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dans Dung
Definition in, nach, pro, zu, bei ein Gemisch von Fäkalien zum Fördern des Wachstums von (Nutz-)Pflanzen

Where the eye mixes dans and Dung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dans and Dung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
dans
4 ch
Dung

Look-alike desk: dans vs Dung

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dans is [dɑ̃] while Dung is [dʊŋ]. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dans is recorded at frequency rank #15,326, classified as aprep, pronounced [dɑ̃]. Dung is at rank #45,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʊŋ].

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 61192, this pair ranks #758,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dans vs Dung

Shared letters: dn. Private to "dans": as. Private to "Dung": gu.

"dans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Dung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dans ← adns · danns · danss · dasn · ddans · dnas
  • Dung ← ddung · dnug · dugn · dungg · dunng · udng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dans" for "Dung" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dans" is a preposition and "Dung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dans" or "Dung" show up more?
"dans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,326 in our German list, against #45,866 for "Dung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #758,873 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dans" and "Dung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duch vs Dung". 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 #758,873 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