denenvsDenisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: denen is a unknown, Denis is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“denen” is an unknown and “Denis” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#248
“denen” frequency rank
#10,632
“Denis” frequency rank
10880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denen Denis
Definition Dativ Plural des Relativpronomens der französischer männlicher Vorname

Where the eye mixes denen and Denis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
denen
5 ch
Denis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denen is [ˈdeːnən] while Denis is [dəˈni]. 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 (unknown vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denen is recorded at frequency rank #248, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːnən]. 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 10880, this pair ranks #1,972,845 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of denen vs Denis

Shared letters: den. Private to "denen": -. Private to "Denis": is.

"denen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Denis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denenddenen · deenn · denenn · denne · dennen · dneen · ednen
  • Denisddenis · deniss · dennis · densi · dneis · ednis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "denen" and "Denis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denen" is an unknown and "Denis" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denen" or "Denis"?
"denen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #248 in our German list, against #10,632 for "Denis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "denen" and "Denis". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denen" 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 #1,972,845 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denen" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list