Which to use
“drauf” is an adverb and “drug” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #759
- “drauf” frequency rank
- #38,692
- “drug” frequency rank
- 39451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drauf | drug |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | auf etwas | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs drag |
Where the eye mixes drauf and drug
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses drauf with drug
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: drauf is [dʁaʊ̯f] while drug is [dɹʌɡ]. 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 39451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drauf is recorded at frequency rank #759, classified as anadv, pronounced [dʁaʊ̯f]. drug is at rank #38,692, tagged as averb, pronounced [dɹʌɡ].
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 39451, this pair ranks #1,536,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of drauf vs drug
Shared letters: dru. Private to "drauf": af. Private to "drug": g.
"drauf" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "drug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "drauf" for "drug" ever safe?
Which is more common, "drauf" or "drug"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "drauf" and "drug" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "drauf" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drug" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,536,422 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drauf" and "drug" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drug vs duc". 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 #1,536,422 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.