Which to use
“Defekten” is a noun and “direkten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,674
- “Defekten” frequency rank
- #3,237
- “direkten” frequency rank
- 27911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Defekten | direkten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Substantivs Defekt | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs direkt |
Where the eye mixes Defekten and direkten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Defekten and direkten follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Defekten vs direkten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Defekten is [deˈfɛktn̩] while direkten is [diˈʁɛktn̩]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Defekten is recorded at frequency rank #24,674, classified as anoun, pronounced [deˈfɛktn̩]. direkten is at rank #3,237, tagged as anadj, pronounced [diˈʁɛktn̩].
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 27911, this pair ranks #1,793,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Defekten vs direkten
Shared letters: deknt. Private to "Defekten": f. Private to "direkten": ir.
"Defekten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "direkten" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Defekten" for "direkten" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Defekten" vs "direkten" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Defekten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "direkten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,793,796 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Defekten" and "direkten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deckten vs Defekten". 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 #1,793,796 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.