dornvsDurConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,693
“dorn” frequency rank
#10,455
“Dur” frequency rank
23148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dorn Dur
Definition Hand Tongeschlecht einer Klangverbindung, deren Charakteristikum eine große Terz im Verhältnis zum Grundton ist

Where the eye mixes dorn and Dur

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

4 ch
dorn
3 ch
Dur

Why the eye confuses dorn with Dur

A purely visual mix-up. dorn ([ˈdɔrn]) and Dur ([duːɐ̯]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dorn is recorded at frequency rank #12,693, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɔrn]. Dur is at rank #10,455, tagged as anoun, pronounced [duːɐ̯].

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 23148, this pair ranks #1,865,178 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dorn vs Dur

Shared letters: dr. Private to "dorn": no. Private to "Dur": u.

"dorn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Dur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dornddorn · donr · dornn · dorrn · dron · odrn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dorn" and "Dur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɔrn] versus [duːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dorn" vs "Dur" - which ranks higher?
"Dur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,455 in our German list, against #12,693 for "dorn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dorn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,865,178 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dorn" and "Dur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dorn vs duran". 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 #1,865,178 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