dochvsdrehWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#71
“doch” frequency rank
#6,911
“dreh” frequency rank
6982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doch dreh
Definition trotzdem, dennoch 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drehen

Where the eye mixes doch and dreh

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

4 ch
doch
4 ch
dreh

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doch is [dɔx] while dreh is [dʁeː]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doch is recorded at frequency rank #71, classified as anadv, pronounced [dɔx]. dreh is at rank #6,911, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʁeː].

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 6982, this pair ranks #1,989,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of doch vs dreh

Shared letters: dh. Private to "doch": co. Private to "dreh": er.

"doch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dreh" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dochdcoh · ddoch · docch · dochh · dohc · odch
  • drehddreh · derh · drehh · drhe · drreh · rdeh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doch" and "dreh" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doch" is an adverb and "dreh" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "doch" or "dreh"?
"doch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #71 in our German list, against #6,911 for "dreh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "doch" and "dreh". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "doch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dreh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,989,806 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doch" and "dreh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dreh vs duch". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list