DeusvsdrugWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Deus is a name, drug is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Deus” is a name and “drug” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,819
“Deus” frequency rank
#38,692
“drug” frequency rank
65511
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Deus drug
Definition Gott (des Christentums) Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs drag

Letter map: Deus vs drug

Shared letters muted; letters that set Deus and drug apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. Deus (CVVC) and drug (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Deus
4 ch
drug

Grammar separator: Deus vs drug

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Deus is aname and drugaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65511, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Deus is recorded at frequency rank #26,819, classified as aname. drug is at rank #38,692, tagged as averb, pronounced [dɹʌɡ].

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 65511, this pair ranks #604,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Deus vs drug

Shared letters: du. Private to "Deus": es. Private to "drug": gr.

"Deus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Deus ← ddeus · desu · deuss · dues · edus
  • drug ← ddrug · drgu · drrug · drugg · durg · rdug

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Deus" for "drug" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Deus" is a name and "drug" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Deus" or "drug"?
"Deus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,819 in our German list, against #38,692 for "drug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Deus" vs "drug" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Deus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #604,368 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Deus" and "drug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drug vs duc". 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 #604,368 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