déjàvsdonaConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#44,541
“déjà” frequency rank
#44,532
“dona” frequency rank
89073
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déjà dona
Definition zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt als erwartet Nominativ Plural des Substantivs donum „Gabe, Geschenk“

Letter map: déjà vs dona

Shared letters muted; letters that set déjà and dona apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. déjà and dona follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
déjà
4 ch
dona

Role in the sentence - déjà and dona

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: déjà is anadverb and donaanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89073, 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]. dona is at rank #44,532, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 89073, this pair ranks #61,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déjà vs dona

Shared letters: d. Private to "déjà": jàé. Private to "dona": ano.

"déjà" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dona" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dona ← ddona · dnoa · doan · odna

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déjà" and "dona" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "déjà" is an adverb and "dona" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "déjà" or "dona" show up more?
"dona" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,532 in our German list, against #44,541 for "déjà". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "déjà" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dona" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,243 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déjà" and "dona" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dona vs puzzles". 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 #61,243 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