DatenvsDativWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#808
“Daten” frequency rank
#27,674
“Dativ” frequency rank
28482
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Daten Dativ
Definition Sammlung ermittelter/gewonnener Messwerte oder auch statistischer Angaben zu etwas Wem-Fall, (im Deutschen und Lateinischen) 3. Fall (Kasus)

Where the eye mixes Daten and Dativ

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Daten
5 ch
Dativ

Visual trap between Daten and Dativ

A purely visual mix-up. Daten ([ˈdaːtn̩]) and Dativ ([ˈdaːtiːf]) 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 28482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Daten is recorded at frequency rank #808, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdaːtn̩]. Dativ is at rank #27,674, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdaːtiːf].

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 28482, this pair ranks #1,783,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Daten vs Dativ

Shared letters: adt. Private to "Daten": en. Private to "Dativ": iv.

"Daten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Dativ" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Datenadten · daetn · datenn · datne · datten · ddaten · dtaen
  • Dativadtiv · daitv · dativv · dattiv · datvi · ddativ · dtaiv

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Daten" and "Dativ" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaːtn̩] versus [ˈdaːtiːf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Daten" or "Dativ"?
"Daten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #808 in our German list, against #27,674 for "Dativ". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Daten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dativ" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,783,967 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Daten" and "Dativ" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dai vs Dativ". 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 #1,783,967 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