Which to use
“darf” is a verb and “das” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #293
- “darf” frequency rank
- #5
- “das” frequency rank
- 298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | darf | das |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen | [1] Nominativ und Akkusativ Singular Neutrum des bestimmten Artikels der |
Where the eye mixes darf and das
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: darf vs das
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: darf is [daʁf] while das is [das]. 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 determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
darf is recorded at frequency rank #293, classified as averb, pronounced [daʁf]. das is at rank #5, tagged as adet, pronounced [das].
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 298, this pair ranks #2,006,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of darf vs das
Shared letters: ad. Private to "darf": fr. Private to "das": s.
"darf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "das" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- darf ← adrf · dafr · darff · darrf · ddarf · draf
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "darf" and "das" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "darf" vs "das" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "darf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "das" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,006,030 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "darf" and "das" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "darf 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 #2,006,030 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.