Which to use
“dess” is an unknown and “Dose” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,817
- “dess” frequency rank
- #8,345
- “Dose” frequency rank
- 57162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dess | Dose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Utrum Singular Genitiv des Personalpronomens den | kleiner Behälter mit Deckel zur Aufbewahrung von Objekten |
Where the eye mixes dess and Dose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dess and Dose
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dess is [ˈdɛ̝sː] while Dose is [ˈdoːzə]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57162, 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]. Dose is at rank #8,345, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdoːzə].
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 57162, this pair ranks #912,076 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dess vs Dose
Shared letters: des. Private to "dess": -. Private to "Dose": o.
"dess" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Dose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dess" for "Dose" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "dess" or "Dose" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dess" and "Dose" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dess" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Dose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #912,076 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dess" and "Dose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dess vs dew". 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 #912,076 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.