Which to use
“dear” and “derb” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,506
- “dear” frequency rank
- #42,415
- “derb” frequency rank
- 72921
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dear | derb |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lieb, teuer, süß, entzückend, reizend, herzig | unverdorben, kräftig |
Where the eye mixes dear and derb
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dear (CVVC) and derb (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: dear vs derb
A purely visual mix-up. dear ([diɹ]) and derb ([dɛʁp]) 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 72921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dear is recorded at frequency rank #30,506, classified as anadj, pronounced [diɹ]. derb is at rank #42,415, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dɛʁp].
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 72921, this pair ranks #374,763 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dear vs derb
Shared letters: der. Private to "dear": a. Private to "derb": b.
"dear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "derb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dear" and "derb" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dear" or "derb"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dear" and "derb" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "derb" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,763 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dear" and "derb" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derb vs dörr". 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 #374,763 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.