dassvsdesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dass is a conjunction, des is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dass” is a conjunction and “des” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27
“dass” frequency rank
#23
“des” frequency rank
50
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dass des
Definition drückt eine Folge des Geschehens aus, Art und Weise oder Grad [1] Genitiv Singular von der und das

Where the eye mixes dass and des

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

4 ch
dass
3 ch
des

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dass is [das] while des is [dɛs]. 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 (conjunction vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dass is recorded at frequency rank #27, classified as aconj, pronounced [das]. des is at rank #23, tagged as adet, pronounced [dɛs].

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 50, this pair ranks #2,006,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dass vs des

Shared letters: ds. Private to "dass": a. Private to "des": e.

"dass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "des" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dassadss · daß · ddass · dsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dass" and "des" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dass" is a conjunction and "des" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dass" or "des"?
"des" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23 in our German list, against #27 for "dass". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "dass" and "des". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "des" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,006,326 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dass" and "des" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "des vs dudes". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list