dichtvsDrahtConfusable pair

Quick tell: dicht is a adjective, Draht is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dicht” is an adjective and “Draht” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,949
“dicht” frequency rank
#10,452
“Draht” frequency rank
13401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dicht Draht
Definition eng, nahe beieinanderliegend, undurchdringlich dünnes biegsames Metallstück mit in der Regel rundem Profil

Where the eye mixes dicht and Draht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dicht
5 ch
Draht

Why the eye confuses dicht with Draht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dicht is [dɪçt] while Draht is [dʁaːt]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dicht is recorded at frequency rank #2,949, classified as anadj, pronounced [dɪçt]. Draht is at rank #10,452, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʁaːt].

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 13401, this pair ranks #1,958,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dicht vs Draht

Shared letters: dht. Private to "dicht": ci. Private to "Draht": ar.

"dicht" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Draht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dichtdciht · ddicht · diccht · dichht · dichtt · dicth · dihct · idcht
  • Drahtdarht · ddraht · drahht · drahtt · drath · drhat · drraht · rdaht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dicht" for "Draht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dicht" is an adjective and "Draht" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dicht" or "Draht" show up more?
"dicht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,949 in our German list, against #10,452 for "Draht". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "dicht" and "Draht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dicht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Draht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,958,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dicht" and "Draht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Draht vs dröhnt". 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 #1,958,237 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