Which to use
“den” is an unknown and “Denis” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10
- “den” frequency rank
- #10,632
- “Denis” frequency rank
- 10642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | den | Denis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des bestimmten Artikels der | französischer männlicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes den and Denis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses den with Denis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: den is [deːn] while Denis is [dəˈni]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “den” sits inside “Denis”, and the parts of speech differ too (unknown vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
den is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as anunknown, pronounced [deːn]. Denis is at rank #10,632, tagged as aname, pronounced [dəˈni].
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 10642, this pair ranks #1,974,081 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of den vs Denis
Shared letters: den. Private to "den": -. Private to "Denis": is.
"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "Denis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Denis ← ddenis · deniss · dennis · densi · dneis · ednis
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "den" for "Denis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "den" or "Denis"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "den" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Denis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,974,081 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "den" and "Denis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Denis 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
Confusion rank #1,974,081 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.