Which to use
“dead” and “death” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,587
- “dead” frequency rank
- #11,207
- “death” frequency rank
- 18794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dead | death |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Tote, die Toten, die Tote | Tod, Exitus |
Where the eye mixes dead and death
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dead with death
A purely visual mix-up. dead ([dɛd]) and death ([dɛθ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dead is recorded at frequency rank #7,587, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɛd]. death is at rank #11,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɛθ].
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 18794, this pair ranks #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dead vs death
Shared letters: ade. Private to "dead": -. Private to "death": ht.
"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "death" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dead" for "death" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dead" vs "death" - which ranks higher?
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 "dead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "death" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dead" and "death" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dead vs dess". 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 #1,914,865 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.