direktevsdrehteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: direkte is a adjective, drehte is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“direkte” is an adjective and “drehte” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,236
“direkte” frequency rank
#5,351
“drehte” frequency rank
8587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature direkte drehte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs direkt 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set direkte and drehte apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
direkte
6 ch
drehte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: direkte is [diˈʁɛktə] while drehte is [ˈdʁeːtə]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

direkte is recorded at frequency rank #3,236, classified as anadj, pronounced [diˈʁɛktə]. drehte is at rank #5,351, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːtə].

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 8587, this pair ranks #1,983,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of direkte vs drehte

Shared letters: dert. Private to "direkte": ik. Private to "drehte": h.

"direkte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "drehte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • direkteddirekte · dierkte · direket · direkkte · direktte · diretke · dirkete · dirrekte
  • drehteddrehte · derhte · drehet · drehhte · drehtte · drethe · drhete · drrehte

Frequency comparison

direkte#3,236
drehte#5,351

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "direkte" and "drehte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "direkte" is an adjective and "drehte" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "direkte" or "drehte"?
"direkte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,236 in our German list, against #5,351 for "drehte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering direkte vs drehte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “direkte”; for a verb, it's “drehte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “direkte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list