Which to use
“Dolch” is a noun and “durch” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,477
- “Dolch” frequency rank
- #67
- “durch” frequency rank
- 23544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dolch | durch |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ein Messer mit zwei Schneiden | in etwas hinein und auf der anderen Seite wieder heraus (wobei oft der Teil dazwischen das Wichtige ist) |
Where the eye mixes Dolch and durch
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Dolch with durch
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dolch is [dɔlç] while durch is [dʊʁç]. 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Dolch is recorded at frequency rank #23,477, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɔlç]. durch is at rank #67, tagged as aprep, pronounced [dʊʁç].
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 23544, this pair ranks #1,859,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Dolch vs durch
Shared letters: cdh. Private to "Dolch": lo. Private to "durch": ru.
"Dolch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "durch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Dolch" for "durch" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Dolch" vs "durch" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Dolch" and "durch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dolch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "durch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,859,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dolch" and "durch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dolch vs dusch". 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 #1,859,890 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.