darfvsDaunTell them apart

Quick tell: darf is a verb, Daun is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“darf” is a verb and “Daun” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#293
“darf” frequency rank
#37,444
“Daun” frequency rank
37737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature darf Daun
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen eine Stadt in Rheinland-Pfalz, Deutschland

Where the eye mixes darf and Daun

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

4 ch
darf
4 ch
Daun

Why the eye confuses darf with Daun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: darf is [daʁf] while Daun is [daʊ̯n]. 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 (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

darf is recorded at frequency rank #293, classified as averb, pronounced [daʁf]. Daun is at rank #37,444, tagged as aname, pronounced [daʊ̯n].

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 37737, this pair ranks #1,582,342 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of darf vs Daun

Shared letters: ad. Private to "darf": fr. Private to "Daun": nu.

"darf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Daun" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • darfadrf · dafr · darff · darrf · ddarf · draf
  • Daunadun · danu · daunn · ddaun · duan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "darf" and "Daun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "darf" is a verb and "Daun" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "darf" or "Daun" show up more?
"darf" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #293 in our German list, against #37,444 for "Daun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "darf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Daun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,582,342 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "darf" and "Daun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Daun vs Düne". 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 #1,582,342 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