DemovsdessWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Demo is a noun, dess is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Demo” is a noun and “dess” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,880
“Demo” frequency rank
#48,817
“dess” frequency rank
52697
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Demo dess
Definition Demonstration, ein öffentlicher Auftritt von Personen zur Meinungsäußerung 3. Person Utrum Singular Genitiv des Personalpronomens den

Where the eye mixes Demo and dess

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

4 ch
Demo
4 ch
dess

Look-alike desk: Demo vs dess

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Demo is [ˈdeːmo] while dess is [ˈdɛ̝sː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Demo is recorded at frequency rank #3,880, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdeːmo]. dess is at rank #48,817, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdɛ̝sː].

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 52697, this pair ranks #1,086,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Demo vs dess

Shared letters: de. Private to "Demo": mo. Private to "dess": s.

"Demo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dess" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Demoddemo · demmo · deom · dmeo · edmo
  • dessddess · deß · dses · edss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Demo" for "dess" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Demo" is a noun and "dess" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Demo" or "dess"?
"Demo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,880 in our German list, against #48,817 for "dess". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Demo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,086,811 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Demo" and "dess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dess vs dew". 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 #1,086,811 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