Which to use
“dauern” and “dauerten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,883
- “dauern” frequency rank
- #27,243
- “dauerten” frequency rank
- 30126
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dauern | dauerten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | über bestimmten Zeitraum erstrecken, für eine bestimmt Zeitspanne anhalten, währen | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs dauern |
Where the eye mixes dauern and dauerten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dauern runs 6 letters (CVVVCC) against dauerten's 8 (CVVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dauern and dauerten
A purely visual mix-up. dauern ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐn]) and dauerten ([ˈdaʊ̯ɐtn̩]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30126, 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]. dauerten is at rank #27,243, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdaʊ̯ɐtn̩].
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 30126, this pair ranks #1,753,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dauern vs dauerten
Shared letters: adenru. Private to "dauern": -. Private to "dauerten": t.
"dauern" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC · "dauerten" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dauern" and "dauerten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dauern" or "dauerten"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dauern" and "dauerten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dauern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dauerten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,753,912 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dauern" and "dauerten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dauernden vs dauerten". 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 #1,753,912 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.