donnernvsdonnertWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“donnern” and “donnert” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,107
“donnern” frequency rank
#43,812
“donnert” frequency rank
86919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature donnern donnert
Definition als Folge eines Blitzes ein lautes Geräusch verursachen 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs donnern

Where the eye mixes donnern and donnert

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
donnern
7 ch
donnert

Why the eye confuses donnern with donnert

A purely visual mix-up. donnern ([ˈdɔnɐn]) and donnert ([ˈdɔnɐt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “donnern” becomes t in “donnert”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

donnern is recorded at frequency rank #43,107, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɔnɐn]. donnert is at rank #43,812, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɔnɐt].

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 86919, this pair ranks #87,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of donnern vs donnert

Shared letters: denor. Private to "donnern": -. Private to "donnert": t.

"donnern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "donnert" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • donnernddonnern · dnonern · donenrn · donern · donnenr · donnernn · donnerrn · donnren
  • donnertddonnert · dnonert · donenrt · donert · donnerrt · donnertt · donnetr · donnret

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "donnern" and "donnert" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɔnɐn] versus [ˈdɔnɐt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "donnern" or "donnert"?
"donnern" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,107 in our German list, against #43,812 for "donnert". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "donnern" and "donnert" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "donnern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "donnert" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,176 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "donnern" and "donnert" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "donnert vs dotiert". 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 #87,176 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