dauernvsdauertWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,883
“dauern” frequency rank
#1,761
“dauert” frequency rank
4644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dauern dauert
Definition über bestimmten Zeitraum erstrecken, für eine bestimmt Zeitspanne anhalten, währen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dauern

Where the eye mixes dauern and dauert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dauern and dauert follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
dauern
6 ch
dauert

Why the eye confuses dauern with dauert

A purely visual mix-up. dauern ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐn]) and dauert ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “dauern” becomes t in “dauert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4644, 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]. dauert is at rank #1,761, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐt].

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 4644, this pair ranks #1,997,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dauern vs dauert

Shared letters: aderu. Private to "dauern": n. Private to "dauert": t.

"dauern" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC  ·  "dauert" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dauern ← aduern · daeurn · dauenr · dauernn · dauerrn · dauren · ddauern · duaern
  • dauert ← aduert · daeurt · dauerrt · dauertt · dauetr · dauret · ddauert · duaert

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dauern" and "dauert" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐn] versus [ˈdaʊ̯ɐt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dauern" vs "dauert" - which ranks higher?
"dauert" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,761 in our German list, against #2,883 for "dauern". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "dauert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,997,122 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dauern" and "dauert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dämmert vs dauert". 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 #1,997,122 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