Which to use
“drehen” and “dreht” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,438
- “drehen” frequency rank
- #2,951
- “dreht” frequency rank
- 5389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drehen | dreht |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas um eine Achse bewegen | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drehen |
Where the eye mixes drehen and dreht
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses drehen with dreht
A purely visual mix-up. drehen ([ˈdʁeːən]) and dreht ([dʁeːt]) 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 5389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drehen is recorded at frequency rank #2,438, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁeːən]. dreht is at rank #2,951, tagged as averb, pronounced [dʁeːt].
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 5389, this pair ranks #1,994,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of drehen vs dreht
Shared letters: dehr. Private to "drehen": n. Private to "dreht": t.
"drehen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "dreht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "drehen" and "dreht" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "drehen" or "dreht" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "drehen" and "dreht" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "drehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dreht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,994,908 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drehen" and "dreht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diet vs dreht". 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 #1,994,908 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.