dranvsdreinWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#964
“dran” frequency rank
#44,536
“drein” frequency rank
45500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dran drein
Definition eine direkte räumliche Berührung ausdrückend in eine bestimmte Situation/Lage hinein

Where the eye mixes dran and drein

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

4 ch
dran
5 ch
drein

Visual trap between dran and drein

A purely visual mix-up. dran ([dʁan]) and drein ([dʁaɪ̯n]) 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 45500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dran is recorded at frequency rank #964, classified as anadv, pronounced [dʁan]. drein is at rank #44,536, tagged as anadv, pronounced [dʁaɪ̯n].

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 45500, this pair ranks #1,350,904 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dran vs drein

Shared letters: dnr. Private to "dran": a. Private to "drein": ei.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • drandarn · ddran · drann · drna · drran · rdan
  • dreinddrein · derin · dreinn · dreni · drien · drrein · rdein

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dran" and "drein" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʁan] versus [dʁaɪ̯n]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dran" or "drein"?
"dran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #964 in our German list, against #44,536 for "drein". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drein" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,350,904 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dran" and "drein" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dre vs drein". 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 #1,350,904 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