drevsduoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#36,889
“dre” frequency rank
#5,822
“duo” frequency rank
42711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dre duo
Definition der Hirsch zwei

Letter map: dre vs duo

Shared letters muted; letters that set dre and duo apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
dre
3 ch
duo

Role in the sentence - dre and duo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dre is anoun and duoanum. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42711, 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]. duo is at rank #5,822, tagged as anum, pronounced […].

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 42711, this pair ranks #1,440,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dre vs duo

Shared letters: d. Private to "dre": er. Private to "duo": ou.

"dre" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "duo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dre" and "duo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dre" is a noun and "duo" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dre" or "duo" show up more?
"duo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,822 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.

After this comparison

Pair "dre" vs "duo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,440,937 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dre" and "duo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dörr vs dre". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,440,937 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