Which to use
“denen” is an unknown and “dingen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #248
- “denen” frequency rank
- #2,643
- “dingen” frequency rank
- 2891
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | denen | dingen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Relativpronomens der | jemanden anwerben, jemanden gegen Lohn eine Aufgabe erledigen lassen (heute vor allem im Zusammenhang mit kriminellen Machenschaften benutzt) |
Where the eye mixes denen and dingen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: denen vs dingen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denen is [ˈdeːnən] while dingen is [ˈdɪŋən]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
denen is recorded at frequency rank #248, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːnən]. dingen is at rank #2,643, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɪŋən].
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 2891, this pair ranks #2,001,369 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of denen vs dingen
Shared letters: den. Private to "denen": -. Private to "dingen": gi.
"denen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dingen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "denen" and "dingen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "denen" or "dingen" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "denen" and "dingen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "denen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dingen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,001,369 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "denen" and "dingen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dingen vs dissen". 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 #2,001,369 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.