darevsDLRTell them apart

Quick tell: dare is a verb, DLR is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dare” is a verb and “DLR” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,517
“dare” frequency rank
#27,685
“DLR” frequency rank
72202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dare DLR
Definition es wagen, zu (+Infinitiv); den Mut haben, zu (+Infinitiv) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.

Where the eye mixes dare and DLR

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dare
3 ch
DLR

Visual trap between dare and DLR

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dare is [deə(ɹ)] while DLR is [deːʔɛlˈʔɛʁ]. 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 (verb vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dare is recorded at frequency rank #44,517, classified as averb, pronounced [deə(ɹ)]. DLR is at rank #27,685, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [deːʔɛlˈʔɛʁ].

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 72202, this pair ranks #394,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dare vs DLR

Shared letters: dr. Private to "dare": ae. Private to "DLR": l.

"dare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "DLR" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • daredarre · ddare · drae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dare" for "DLR" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dare" is a verb and "DLR" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dare" or "DLR" show up more?
"DLR" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,685 in our German list, against #44,517 for "dare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "dare" and "DLR" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "DLR" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #394,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dare" and "DLR" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dare vs dörr". 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 #394,874 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