dochvsdornWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: doch is a adverb, dorn is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“doch” is an adverb and “dorn” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#71
“doch” frequency rank
#12,693
“dorn” frequency rank
12764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doch dorn
Definition trotzdem, dennoch Hand

Where the eye mixes doch and dorn

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
doch
4 ch
dorn

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doch is [dɔx] while dorn is [ˈdɔrn]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doch is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as anadv, pronounced [dɔx]. dorn is at rank #12,693, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɔrn].

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 12764, this pair ranks #1,962,185 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of doch vs dorn

Shared letters: do. Private to "doch": ch. Private to "dorn": nr.

"doch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dorn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dochdcoh · ddoch · docch · dochh · dohc · odch
  • dornddorn · donr · dornn · dorrn · dron · odrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doch" and "dorn" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doch" is an adverb and "dorn" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doch" or "dorn"?
"doch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #71 in our German list, against #12,693 for "dorn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list