Which to use
“den” is an unknown and “dünn” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10
- “den” frequency rank
- #5,934
- “dünn” frequency rank
- 5944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | den | dünn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des bestimmten Artikels der | von geringer Dicke |
Where the eye mixes den and dünn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. den runs 3 letters (CVC) against dünn's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: den vs dünn
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: den is [deːn] while dünn is [dʏn]. 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 (unknown vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
den is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as anunknown, pronounced [deːn]. dünn is at rank #5,934, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dʏn].
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 5944, this pair ranks #1,993,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of den vs dünn
Shared letters: dn. Private to "den": e. Private to "dünn": ü.
"den" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dünn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "den" and "dünn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "den" vs "dünn" - which ranks higher?
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 "dünn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,993,220 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "den" and "dünn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dünn vs duran". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,993,220 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.