decvsdunTell them apart

Quick tell: dec is a abbrev, dun is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dec” is an abbrev and “dun” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,469
“dec” frequency rank
#37,461
“dun” frequency rank
77930
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dec dun
Definition Abkürzung für den Monat december; Dezember im Zustand nach Genuss von zu viel Alkohol

Letter map: dec vs dun

Shared letters muted; letters that set dec and dun apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. dec and dun follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
dec
3 ch
dun

Role in the sentence - dec and dun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dec is anabbrev and dunanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77930, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dec is recorded at frequency rank #40,469, classified as anabbrev. dun is at rank #37,461, tagged as anadj, pronounced [duːn].

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 77930, this pair ranks #249,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dec vs dun

Shared letters: d. Private to "dec": ce. Private to "dun": nu.

"dec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dec" for "dun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dec" is an abbrev and "dun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dec" vs "dun" - which ranks higher?
"dun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,461 in our German list, against #40,469 for "dec". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dec" and "dun".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,665 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dec" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dec vs duch". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #249,665 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