deinvsdunTell them apart

Quick tell: dein is a pronoun, dun is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dein” is a pronoun and “dun” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#316
“dein” frequency rank
#37,461
“dun” frequency rank
37777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dein dun
Definition Form des Possessivpronomens „dein, deine, dein“: Zeigt den Besitz, das Eigentum oder die Zugehörigkeit einer Person bzw. Sache zu einer dem Sprecher direkt gegenüberstehenden Person, Sache an im Zustand nach Genuss von zu viel Alkohol

Where the eye mixes dein and dun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dein
3 ch
dun

Look-alike desk: dein vs dun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dein is [daɪ̯n] while dun is [duːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dein is recorded at frequency rank #316, classified as apron, pronounced [daɪ̯n]. dun is at rank #37,461, tagged as anadj, pronounced [duːn].

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 37777, this pair ranks #1,581,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dein vs dun

Shared letters: dn. Private to "dein": ei. Private to "dun": u.

"dein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deinddein · deinn · deni · dien · edin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dein" and "dun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dein" is a pronoun and "dun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dein" vs "dun" - which ranks higher?
"dein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #316 in our German list, against #37,461 for "dun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dein" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,581,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dein" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dun vs duran". 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 #1,581,301 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