denvsduzenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: den is a unknown, duzen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“den” is an unknown and “duzen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10
“den” frequency rank
#35,717
“duzen” frequency rank
35727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature den duzen
Definition Akkusativ Singular Maskulinum des bestimmten Artikels der mit du anreden

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set den and duzen apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
den
5 ch
duzen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

den and duzen form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

den is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as anunknown, pronounced [deːn]. duzen is at rank #35,717, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈduːt͡sn̩].

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 35727, this pair ranks #1,633,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

den#10
duzen#35,717

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "den" and "duzen" be used interchangeably?
No, "den" and "duzen" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering den vs duzen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an unknown, it's “den”; for a verb, it's “duzen”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list