DreckvsDruckWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,110
“Dreck” frequency rank
#947
“Druck” frequency rank
5057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dreck Druck
Definition Schmutz, unerwünschte Substanz Kraft pro Fläche

Where the eye mixes Dreck and Druck

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Dreck
5 ch
Druck

Visual trap between Dreck and Druck

A purely visual mix-up. Dreck ([dʁɛk]) and Druck ([dʁʊk]) 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 a single letter - e in “Dreck” becomes u in “Druck”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dreck is recorded at frequency rank #4,110, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʁɛk]. Druck is at rank #947, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʁʊk].

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 5057, this pair ranks #1,995,899 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dreck vs Druck

Shared letters: cdkr. Private to "Dreck": e. Private to "Druck": u.

"Dreck" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Druck" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dreckddreck · derck · drcek · drecck · dreckk · drekc · drreck · rdeck
  • Druckddruck · drcuk · drruck · drucck · druckk · drukc · durck · rduck

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dreck" and "Druck" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dʁɛk] versus [dʁʊk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Dreck" or "Druck" show up more?
"Druck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #947 in our German list, against #4,110 for "Dreck". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Dreck" and "Druck" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dreck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Druck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,899 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dreck" and "Druck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Druck vs duch". 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 #1,995,899 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