Which to use
“dreht” and “drohte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,951
- “dreht” frequency rank
- #9,352
- “drohte” frequency rank
- 12303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dreht | drohte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drehen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drohen |
Where the eye mixes dreht and drohte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dreht runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against drohte's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dreht with drohte
A purely visual mix-up. dreht ([dʁeːt]) and drohte ([ˈdʁoːtə]) 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 12303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dreht is recorded at frequency rank #2,951, classified as averb, pronounced [dʁeːt]. drohte is at rank #9,352, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁoːtə].
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 12303, this pair ranks #1,964,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dreht vs drohte
Shared letters: dehrt. Private to "dreht": -. Private to "drohte": o.
"dreht" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "drohte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dreht" for "drohte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dreht" or "drohte"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dreht" and "drohte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dreht" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drohte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,964,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dreht" and "drohte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dröhnt vs drohte". 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 #1,964,968 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.