DatevsDoseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Date” and “Dose” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,717
“Date” frequency rank
#8,345
“Dose” frequency rank
12062
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Date Dose
Definition Verabredung, meistens von zwei Verliebten kleiner Behälter mit Deckel zur Aufbewahrung von Objekten

Where the eye mixes Date and Dose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Date and Dose follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Date
4 ch
Dose

Why the eye confuses Date with Dose

A purely visual mix-up. Date ([dɛɪ̯t]) and Dose ([ˈdoːzə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12062, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Date is recorded at frequency rank #3,717, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɛɪ̯t]. Dose is at rank #8,345, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdoːzə].

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 12062, this pair ranks #1,966,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Date vs Dose

Shared letters: de. Private to "Date": at. Private to "Dose": os.

"Date" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Dose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Date ← adte · daet · datte · ddate · dtae
  • Dose ← ddose · dosse · dsoe · odse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Date" and "Dose" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɛɪ̯t] versus [ˈdoːzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Date" vs "Dose" - which ranks higher?
"Date" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,717 in our German list, against #8,345 for "Dose". 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 "Date" and "Dose" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Date" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,401 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Date" and "Dose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dörr vs Dose". 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 #1,966,401 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