Which to use
“dort” is an adverb and “droht” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #153
- “dort” frequency rank
- #3,306
- “droht” frequency rank
- 3459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dort | droht |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hinweis auf einen Ort, stärker als da | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drohen |
Where the eye mixes dort and droht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dort with droht
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dort is [dɔʁt] while droht is [dʁoːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dort is recorded at frequency rank #153, classified as anadv, pronounced [dɔʁt]. droht is at rank #3,306, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʁoːt].
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 3459, this pair ranks #2,000,173 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dort vs droht
Shared letters: dort. Private to "dort": -. Private to "droht": h.
"dort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "droht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dort" and "droht" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dort" or "droht" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "droht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,000,173 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dort" and "droht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dorpat vs dort". 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 #2,000,173 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.