degvsdrugWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,522
“deg” frequency rank
#38,692
“drug” frequency rank
72214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deg drug
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs degt Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs drag

Where the eye mixes deg and drug

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. deg runs 3 letters (CVC) against drug's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
deg
4 ch
drug

Visual trap between deg and drug

A purely visual mix-up. deg ([dɛk]) and drug ([dɹʌɡ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deg is recorded at frequency rank #33,522, classified as averb, pronounced [dɛk]. drug is at rank #38,692, tagged as averb, pronounced [dɹʌɡ].

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 72214, this pair ranks #394,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of deg vs drug

Shared letters: dg. Private to "deg": e. Private to "drug": ru.

"deg" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • drug ← ddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deg" and "drug" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɛk] versus [dɹʌɡ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "deg" vs "drug" - which ranks higher?
"deg" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,522 in our German list, against #38,692 for "drug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "deg" and "drug" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #394,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deg" and "drug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drug vs duc". 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 #394,560 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