Which to use
“denn” is a conjunction and “down” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #105
- “denn” frequency rank
- #4,973
- “down” frequency rank
- 5078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | denn | down |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | leitet einen Hauptsatz ein, der den Grund für das, was vorher festgestellt wurde, liefert | deprimiert bis depressiv |
Where the eye mixes denn and down
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses denn with down
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denn is [dɛn] while down is [daʊ̯n]. 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 (conjunction vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
denn is recorded at frequency rank #105, classified as aconj, pronounced [dɛn]. down is at rank #4,973, tagged as anadj, pronounced [daʊ̯n].
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 5078, this pair ranks #1,995,850 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of denn vs down
Shared letters: dn. Private to "denn": e. Private to "down": ow.
"denn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "down" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "denn" and "down" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "denn" or "down" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "denn" and "down" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "denn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "down" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,995,850 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "denn" and "down" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dörr vs down". 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 #1,995,850 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.