Which to use
“dehnen” and “drehten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,818
- “dehnen” frequency rank
- #17,260
- “drehten” frequency rank
- 44078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dehnen | drehten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas ausweiten, strecken, vergrößern | 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drehen |
Where the eye mixes dehnen and drehten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dehnen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against drehten's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dehnen with drehten
A purely visual mix-up. dehnen ([ˈdeːnən]) and drehten ([ˈdʁeːtn̩]) 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 44078, 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]. drehten is at rank #17,260, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːtn̩].
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 44078, this pair ranks #1,397,739 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dehnen vs drehten
Shared letters: dehn. Private to "dehnen": -. Private to "drehten": rt.
"dehnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "drehten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dehnen" for "drehten" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dehnen" or "drehten"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dehnen" and "drehten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dehnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drehten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,397,739 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dehnen" and "drehten" 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 #1,397,739 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.