Which to use
“die” is a determiner and “drei” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1
- “die” frequency rank
- #175
- “drei” frequency rank
- 176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | die | drei |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | weiblicher bestimmter Artikel im Nominativ und Akkusativ Singular | die Kardinalzahl zwischen zwei und vier |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set die and drei apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
die and drei form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
die is recorded at frequency rank #1, classified as adet, pronounced [diː]. 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 176, this pair ranks #2,006,189 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "die" and "drei" be used interchangeably?
Remembering die vs drei
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “die”; for a num, it's “drei”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “die” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable