DrahtvsDrähteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,452
“Draht” frequency rank
#31,513
“Drähte” frequency rank
41965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Draht Drähte
Definition dünnes biegsames Metallstück mit in der Regel rundem Profil Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Draht

Where the eye mixes Draht and Drähte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Draht runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against Drähte's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Draht
6 ch
Drähte

Look-alike desk: Draht vs Drähte

A purely visual mix-up. Draht ([dʁaːt]) and Drähte ([ˈdʁɛːtə]) 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 41965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Draht is recorded at frequency rank #10,452, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʁaːt]. Drähte is at rank #31,513, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdʁɛːtə].

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 41965, this pair ranks #1,463,683 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Draht vs Drähte

Shared letters: dhrt. Private to "Draht": a. Private to "Drähte": eä.

"Draht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Drähte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Draht ← darht · ddraht · drahht · drahtt · drath · drhat · drraht · rdaht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Draht" for "Drähte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([dʁaːt] versus [ˈdʁɛːtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Draht" or "Drähte"?
"Draht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,452 in our German list, against #31,513 for "Drähte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Draht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Drähte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,463,683 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Draht" and "Drähte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "draft vs Drähte". 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 #1,463,683 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