dassvsdiesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#27
“dass” frequency rank
#219
“dies” frequency rank
246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dass dies
Definition drückt eine Folge des Geschehens aus, Art und Weise oder Grad adverbialer Gebrauch, um ein ganz bestimmtes, nahe liegendes Nomen hervorzuheben

Where the eye mixes dass and dies

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

4 ch
dass
4 ch
dies

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dass is [das] while dies is [diːs]. 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 (conjunction vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dass is recorded at frequency rank #27, classified as aconj, pronounced [das]. dies is at rank #219, tagged as apron, pronounced [diːs].

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 246, this pair ranks #2,006,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dass vs dies

Shared letters: ds. Private to "dass": a. Private to "dies": ei.

"dass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dies" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dassadss · daß · ddass · dsas
  • diesddies · deis · diess · dise · ides

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dass" and "dies" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dass" is a conjunction and "dies" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dass" or "dies"?
"dass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27 in our German list, against #219 for "dies". 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 "dies". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,006,094 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dass" and "dies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dies 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