der vs dürr, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“der” is a determiner and “dürr” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2
“der” frequency rank: #25,514
“dürr” frequency rank: 25516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	der	dürr
Definition	definiter Artikel (bestimmtes Geschlechtswort)	trocken

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set der and dürr apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

der

4 ch

dürr

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: der is [deːɐ̯] while dürr is [dʏʁ]. 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 (determiner vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

der is recorded at frequency rank #2, classified as adet, pronounced [deːɐ̯]. dürr is at rank #25,514, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dʏʁ].

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 25516, this pair ranks #1,832,087 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of der vs dürr

Shared letters: dr. Private to "der": e. Private to "dürr": ü.

"der" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dürr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Frequency comparison

der#2

dürr#25,514

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "der" and "dürr" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "der" is a determiner and "dürr" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "der" or "dürr"?

"der" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2 in our German list, against #25,514 for "dürr". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering der vs dürr

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “der”; for an adjective, it's “dürr”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “der” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable