déjàvsdennWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: déjà is a adverb, denn is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“déjà” is an adverb and “denn” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,541
“déjà” frequency rank
#105
“denn” frequency rank
44646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déjà denn
Definition zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt als erwartet leitet einen Hauptsatz ein, der den Grund für das, was vorher festgestellt wurde, liefert

Where the eye mixes déjà and denn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
déjà
4 ch
denn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: déjà is [de.ʒa] while denn is [dɛn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déjà is recorded at frequency rank #44,541, classified as anadv, pronounced [de.ʒa]. denn is at rank #105, tagged as aconj, pronounced [dɛn].

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 44646, this pair ranks #1,379,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of déjà vs denn

Shared letters: d. Private to "déjà": jàé. Private to "denn": en.

"déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "denn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dennddenn · dnen · ednn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déjà" and "denn" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déjà" is an adverb and "denn" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "déjà" or "denn"?
"denn" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #105 in our German list, against #44,541 for "déjà". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "déjà" and "denn". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déjà" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,379,432 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déjà" and "denn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déjà vs dess". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list