DorstenvsdurftenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Dorsten is a name, durften is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Dorsten” is a name and “durften” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,512
“Dorsten” frequency rank
#4,603
“durften” frequency rank
36115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dorsten durften
Definition eine Stadt in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Deutschland 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs dürfen

Where the eye mixes Dorsten and durften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Dorsten
7 ch
durften

Look-alike desk: Dorsten vs durften

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dorsten is [ˈdɔʁstn̩] while durften is [ˈdʊʁftn̩]. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dorsten is recorded at frequency rank #31,512, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈdɔʁstn̩]. durften is at rank #4,603, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊʁftn̩].

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 36115, this pair ranks #1,623,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dorsten vs durften

Shared letters: denrt. Private to "Dorsten": os. Private to "durften": fu.

"Dorsten" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "durften" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dorstenddorsten · dorrsten · dorsetn · dorssten · dorstenn · dorstne · dorstten · dortsen
  • durftenddurften · druften · dufrten · durfetn · durfften · durftenn · durftne · durftten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dorsten" and "durften" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dorsten" is a name and "durften" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Dorsten" or "durften" show up more?
"durften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,603 in our German list, against #31,512 for "Dorsten". 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 "Dorsten" and "durften" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dorsten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,623,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dorsten" and "durften" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dorfen vs Dorsten". 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 #1,623,568 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