drevsdreheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dre is a noun, drehe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dre” is a noun and “drehe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,889
“dre” frequency rank
#15,334
“drehe” frequency rank
52223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dre drehe
Definition der Hirsch 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drehen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dre and drehe apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
dre
5 ch
drehe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dre is [dreː] while drehe is [ˈdʁeːə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dre” sits inside “drehe”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dre is recorded at frequency rank #36,889, classified as anoun, pronounced [dreː]. drehe is at rank #15,334, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːə].

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 52223, this pair ranks #1,105,237 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dre vs drehe

Shared letters: der. Private to "dre": -. Private to "drehe": h.

"dre" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "drehe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dreheddrehe · derhe · dreeh · drehhe · drhee · drrehe · rdehe

Frequency comparison

dre#36,889
drehe#15,334

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dre" and "drehe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dre" is a noun and "drehe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dre" or "drehe"?
"drehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,334 in our German list, against #36,889 for "dre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dre vs drehe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dre”; for a verb, it's “drehe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dre” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list