deadvsDemoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,587
“dead” frequency rank
#3,880
“Demo” frequency rank
11467
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dead Demo
Definition der Tote, die Toten, die Tote Demonstration, ein öffentlicher Auftritt von Personen zur Meinungsäußerung

Where the eye mixes dead and Demo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dead (CVVC) and Demo (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
dead
4 ch
Demo

Why the eye confuses dead with Demo

A purely visual mix-up. dead ([dɛd]) and Demo ([ˈdeːmo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11467, 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]. Demo is at rank #3,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdeːmo].

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 11467, this pair ranks #1,969,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dead vs Demo

Shared letters: de. Private to "dead": a. Private to "Demo": mo.

"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Demo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deaddaed · ddead · deadd · deda · edad
  • Demoddemo · demmo · deom · dmeo · edmo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dead" and "Demo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɛd] versus [ˈdeːmo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "dead" or "Demo" show up more?
"Demo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,880 in our German list, against #7,587 for "dead". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Demo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,969,732 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dead" and "Demo" 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 #1,969,732 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