derbenvsdeutenTell them apart

Quick tell: derben is a adjective, deuten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“derben” is an adjective and “deuten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,416
“derben” frequency rank
#8,190
“deuten” frequency rank
50606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature derben deuten
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs derb auf ein Objekt weisen; hinweisen, zeigen

Where the eye mixes derben and deuten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
derben
6 ch
deuten

Look-alike desk: derben vs deuten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: derben is [ˈdɛʁbn̩] while deuten is [ˈdɔɪ̯tn̩]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

derben is recorded at frequency rank #42,416, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdɛʁbn̩]. deuten is at rank #8,190, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɔɪ̯tn̩].

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 50606, this pair ranks #1,167,316 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of derben vs deuten

Shared letters: den. Private to "derben": br. Private to "deuten": tu.

"derben" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "deuten" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derbendderben · debren · derbben · derbenn · derbne · derebn · derrben · dreben
  • deutenddeuten · detuen · deuetn · deutenn · deutne · deutten · dueten · eduten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "derben" and "deuten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "derben" is an adjective and "deuten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "derben" or "deuten"?
"deuten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,190 in our German list, against #42,416 for "derben". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "derben" and "deuten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "derben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deuten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,167,316 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "derben" and "deuten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derben vs Dorfen". 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 #1,167,316 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list