Which to use
“denen” is an unknown and “duzen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #248
- “denen” frequency rank
- #35,717
- “duzen” frequency rank
- 35965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | denen | duzen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dativ Plural des Relativpronomens der | mit du anreden |
Where the eye mixes denen and duzen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. denen and duzen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: denen vs duzen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denen is [ˈdeːnən] while duzen is [ˈduːt͡sn̩]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
denen is recorded at frequency rank #248, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːnən]. 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 35965, this pair ranks #1,627,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of denen vs duzen
Shared letters: den. Private to "denen": -. Private to "duzen": uz.
"denen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "duzen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "denen" for "duzen" ever safe?
Which is more common, "denen" or "duzen"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "denen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duzen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,627,242 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "denen" and "duzen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duran vs duzen". 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 #1,627,242 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.