dehnenvsdeinenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dehnen is a verb, deinen is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dehnen” is a verb and “deinen” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,818
“dehnen” frequency rank
#632
“deinen” frequency rank
27450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dehnen deinen
Definition etwas ausweiten, strecken, vergrößern Akkusativ Singular des Pronomens dein

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dehnen and deinen apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
dehnen
6 ch
deinen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dehnen is [ˈdeːnən] while deinen is [ˈdaɪ̯nən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “dehnen” becomes i in “deinen”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dehnen is recorded at frequency rank #26,818, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdeːnən]. deinen is at rank #632, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdaɪ̯nən].

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 27450, this pair ranks #1,801,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dehnen vs deinen

Shared letters: den. Private to "dehnen": h. Private to "deinen": i.

"dehnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "deinen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dehnenddehnen · dehenn · dehhnen · dehnenn · dehnne · dehnnen · denhen · dhenen
  • deinenddeinen · deienn · deinenn · deinnen · denien · edinen

Frequency comparison

dehnen#26,818
deinen#632

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dehnen" and "deinen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dehnen" is a verb and "deinen" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dehnen" or "deinen"?
"deinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #632 in our German list, against #26,818 for "dehnen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering dehnen vs deinen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “dehnen”; for an unknown, it's “deinen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dehnen” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list