den vs dünn, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set den and dünn apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

den

4 ch

dünn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

den#10

dünn#5,934

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "den" and "dünn" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "den" is an unknown and "dünn" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "den" or "dünn"?

"den" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our German list, against #5,934 for "dünn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering den vs dünn

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “den”; for an adjective, it's “dünn”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “den” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable