Which to use
“dew” is a noun and “down” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,062
- “dew” frequency rank
- #4,973
- “down” frequency rank
- 53035
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dew | down |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Niederschlag, durch Abkühlung (in Bodennähe) kondensierter Wasserdampf; Tau | deprimiert bis depressiv |
Where the eye mixes dew and down
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dew with down
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dew is [djuː] while down is [daʊ̯n]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dew is recorded at frequency rank #48,062, classified as anoun, pronounced [djuː]. down is at rank #4,973, tagged as anadj, pronounced [daʊ̯n].
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 53035, this pair ranks #1,073,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dew vs down
Shared letters: dw. Private to "dew": e. Private to "down": no.
"dew" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "down" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- down ← ddown · donw · downn · dowwn · dwon · odwn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dew" and "down" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dew" or "down" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dew" and "down" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "down" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,073,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dew" and "down" 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 #1,073,624 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.