dranvsdrausWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#964
“dran” frequency rank
#9,172
“draus” frequency rank
10136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dran draus
Definition eine direkte räumliche Berührung ausdrückend auf eine direkte räumliche oder ursächliche Herkunft weisend

Where the eye mixes dran and draus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dran
5 ch
draus

Look-alike desk: dran vs draus

A purely visual mix-up. dran ([dʁan]) and draus ([dʁaʊ̯s]) 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 10136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dran is recorded at frequency rank #964, classified as anadv, pronounced [dʁan]. draus is at rank #9,172, tagged as anadv, pronounced [dʁaʊ̯s].

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 10136, this pair ranks #1,976,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dran vs draus

Shared letters: adr. Private to "dran": n. Private to "draus": su.

"dran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "draus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • drandarn · ddran · drann · drna · drran · rdan
  • drausdarus · ddraus · drasu · drauss · drraus · druas · rdaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dran" and "draus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʁan] versus [dʁaʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dran" vs "draus" - which ranks higher?
"dran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #964 in our German list, against #9,172 for "draus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "draus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,976,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dran" and "draus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "draus vs draw". 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 #1,976,607 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