dieservsDiggerWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dieser is a pronoun, Digger is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dieser” is a pronoun and “Digger” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#94
“dieser” frequency rank
#31,508
“Digger” frequency rank
31602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dieser Digger
Definition attributiver Gebrauch, um ein ganz bestimmtes, nahe liegendes Nomen hervorzuheben Anrede für einen Gesprächspartner

Where the eye mixes dieser and Digger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
dieser
6 ch
Digger

Why the eye confuses dieser with Digger

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dieser is [ˈdiːzɐ] while Digger is [ˈdɪɡɐ]. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dieser is recorded at frequency rank #94, classified as apron, pronounced [ˈdiːzɐ]. Digger is at rank #31,508, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɪɡɐ].

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 31602, this pair ranks #1,724,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dieser vs Digger

Shared letters: deir. Private to "dieser": s. Private to "Digger": g.

"dieser" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Digger" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dieserddieser · deiser · dieesr · dieserr · diesre · diesser · diseer · ideser
  • Diggerddigger · dgiger · digegr · diger · diggerr · diggre · idgger

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dieser" for "Digger" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dieser" is a pronoun and "Digger" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dieser" vs "Digger" - which ranks higher?
"dieser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #94 in our German list, against #31,508 for "Digger". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dieser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Digger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,724,822 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dieser" and "Digger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "danger vs Digger". 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 #1,724,822 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