derenvsduzenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: deren is a unknown, duzen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deren” is an unknown and “duzen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#326
“deren” frequency rank
#35,717
“duzen” frequency rank
36043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deren duzen
Definition Genitiv Singular des Pronomens die mit du anreden

Where the eye mixes deren and duzen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
deren
5 ch
duzen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deren is [ˈdeːʁən] 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 36043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deren is recorded at frequency rank #326, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːʁən]. 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 36043, this pair ranks #1,625,370 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deren vs duzen

Shared letters: den. Private to "deren": r. Private to "duzen": uz.

"deren" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "duzen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derendderen · deern · derenn · derne · derren · dreen · edren
  • duzendduzen · duezn · duzenn · duzne · duzzen · dzuen · udzen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deren" and "duzen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deren" is an unknown and "duzen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deren" or "duzen"?
"deren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #326 in our German list, against #35,717 for "duzen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "deren" and "duzen". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deren" 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 #1,625,370 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deren" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list