Which to use
“dauern” is a verb and “dauernd” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,883
- “dauern” frequency rank
- #4,781
- “dauernd” frequency rank
- 7664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dauern | dauernd |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | über bestimmten Zeitraum erstrecken, für eine bestimmt Zeitspanne anhalten, währen | häufig wiederkehrend |
Where the eye mixes dauern and dauernd
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dauern runs 6 letters (CVVVCC) against dauernd's 7 (CVVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: dauern vs dauernd
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dauern is [ˈdaʊ̯ɐn] while dauernd is [ˈdaʊ̯ɐnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “dauern” sits inside “dauernd”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dauern is recorded at frequency rank #2,883, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐn]. dauernd is at rank #4,781, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐnt].
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 7664, this pair ranks #1,987,363 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dauern vs dauernd
Shared letters: adenru. Private to "dauern": -. Private to "dauernd": -.
"dauern" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC · "dauernd" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dauern" and "dauernd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dauern" or "dauernd" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dauern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dauernd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,987,363 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dauern" and "dauernd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dauern vs Daun". 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 #1,987,363 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.