derenvsdererConfusable pair

Which to use

“deren” and “derer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#326
“deren” frequency rank
#5,576
“derer” frequency rank
5902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deren derer
Definition Genitiv Singular des Pronomens die [1] Genitiv Plural des Demonstrativpronomens der

Where the eye mixes deren and derer

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

5 ch
deren
5 ch
derer

Why the eye confuses deren with derer

A purely visual mix-up. deren ([ˈdeːʁən]) and derer ([ˈdeːʁɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “deren” becomes r in “derer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deren is recorded at frequency rank #326, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːʁən]. derer is at rank #5,576, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːʁɐ].

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 5902, this pair ranks #1,993,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deren vs derer

Shared letters: der. Private to "deren": n. Private to "derer": -.

"deren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "derer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derendderen · deern · derenn · derne · derren · dreen · edren
  • dererdderer · deerr · dererr · derre · derrer · dreer · edrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deren" and "derer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdeːʁən] versus [ˈdeːʁɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "deren" or "derer" show up more?
"deren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #326 in our German list, against #5,576 for "derer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "deren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "derer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,993,353 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deren" and "derer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degree vs derer". 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 #1,993,353 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