Which to use
“dew” is a noun and “drei” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,062
- “dew” frequency rank
- #175
- “drei” frequency rank
- 48237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dew | drei |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Niederschlag, durch Abkühlung (in Bodennähe) kondensierter Wasserdampf; Tau | die Kardinalzahl zwischen zwei und vier |
Where the eye mixes dew and drei
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dew runs 3 letters (CVC) against drei's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dew with drei
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dew is [djuː] while drei is [dʁaɪ̯]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48237, 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]. drei is at rank #175, tagged as anum, pronounced [dʁaɪ̯].
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 48237, this pair ranks #1,255,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dew vs drei
Shared letters: de. Private to "dew": w. Private to "drei": ir.
"dew" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "drei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- drei ← ddrei · deri · drie · drrei · rdei
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dew" for "drei" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dew" vs "drei" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,255,869 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dew" and "drei" 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 #1,255,869 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.