Which to use
“deep” is an adjective and “drei” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,522
- “deep” frequency rank
- #175
- “drei” frequency rank
- 9697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deep | drei |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tief | die Kardinalzahl zwischen zwei und vier |
Where the eye mixes deep and drei
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. deep (CVVC) and drei (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between deep and drei
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deep is [diːp] while drei is [dʁaɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deep is recorded at frequency rank #9,522, classified as anadj, pronounced [diːp]. drei is at rank #175, tagged as anum, pronounced [dʁaɪ̯].
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 9697, this pair ranks #1,978,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deep vs drei
Shared letters: de. Private to "deep": p. Private to "drei": ir.
"deep" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "drei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "deep" and "drei" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "deep" or "drei" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deep" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,978,735 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deep" and "drei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deep vs diet". 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 #1,978,735 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.