Which to use
“dehnen” is a verb and “denen” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,818
- “dehnen” frequency rank
- #248
- “denen” frequency rank
- 27066
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dehnen | denen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas ausweiten, strecken, vergrößern | Dativ Plural des Relativpronomens der |
Same sound, different letters: dehnen vs denen
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: dehnen vs denen
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: dehnen and denen carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈdeːnən]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anunknown, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27066, 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]. denen is at rank #248, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːnən].
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 27066, this pair ranks #1,807,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dehnen vs denen
Shared letters: den. Private to "dehnen": h. Private to "denen": -.
"dehnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "denen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dehnen" and "denen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "dehnen" or "denen" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "dehnen" / "denen". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "dehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "denen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,807,903 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dehnen" and "denen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dehnen vs Dehnung". 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 #1,807,903 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.