devsDSVWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#247
“de” frequency rank
#34,594
“DSV” frequency rank
34841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature de DSV
Definition nach ISO 639-1 für Deutsch Deutscher Schwimmverband/Deutscher Schwimm-Verband

Letter map: de vs DSV

Shared letters muted; letters that set de and DSV apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
de
3 ch
DSV

Pair insight - de / DSV

de and DSV are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

de is recorded at frequency rank #247, classified as anabbrev. DSV is at rank #34,594, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [deːʔɛsˈfaʊ̯].

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 34841, this pair ranks #1,654,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of de vs DSV

Shared letters: d. Private to "de": e. Private to "DSV": sv.

"de" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "DSV" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "de" and "DSV" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "de" or "DSV" show up more?
"de" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #247 in our German list, against #34,594 for "DSV". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "de" and "DSV". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "de" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "DSV" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,654,067 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "de" and "DSV" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dess vs DSV". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,654,067 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