dichtenvsdrehtenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dichten” and “drehten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,050
“dichten” frequency rank
#17,260
“drehten” frequency rank
29310
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dichten drehten
Definition ein sprachliches Kunstwerk verfassen 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drehen

Where the eye mixes dichten and drehten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dichten (CVCCCVC) and drehten (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
dichten
7 ch
drehten

Visual trap between dichten and drehten

A purely visual mix-up. dichten ([ˈdɪçtn̩]) and drehten ([ˈdʁeːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29310, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dichten is recorded at frequency rank #12,050, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɪçtn̩]. drehten is at rank #17,260, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːtn̩].

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 29310, this pair ranks #1,769,206 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dichten vs drehten

Shared letters: dehnt. Private to "dichten": ci. Private to "drehten": r.

"dichten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "drehten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dichten ← dcihten · ddichten · dicchten · dichetn · dichhten · dichtenn · dichtne · dichtten
  • drehten ← ddrehten · derhten · drehetn · drehhten · drehtenn · drehtne · drehtten · drethen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dichten" for "drehten" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɪçtn̩] versus [ˈdʁeːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dichten" vs "drehten" - which ranks higher?
"dichten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,050 in our German list, against #17,260 for "drehten". 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 "dichten" and "drehten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dichten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drehten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,769,206 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dichten" and "drehten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deckten vs dichten". 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 #1,769,206 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