Which to use
“dess” is an unknown and “dew” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,817
- “dess” frequency rank
- #48,062
- “dew” frequency rank
- 96879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dess | dew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Utrum Singular Genitiv des Personalpronomens den | Niederschlag, durch Abkühlung (in Bodennähe) kondensierter Wasserdampf; Tau |
Where the eye mixes dess and dew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dess vs dew
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dess is [ˈdɛ̝sː] while dew is [djuː]. 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 (unknown vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dess is recorded at frequency rank #48,817, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdɛ̝sː]. dew is at rank #48,062, tagged as anoun, pronounced [djuː].
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 96879, this pair ranks #5,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dess vs dew
Shared letters: de. Private to "dess": s. Private to "dew": w.
"dess" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dew" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dess ← ddess · deß · dses · edss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dess" for "dew" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dess" vs "dew" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dess" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,613 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dess" and "dew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dew vs diet". 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 #5,613 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.