Which to use
“dreiste” is an adjective and “dritte” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,049
- “dreiste” frequency rank
- #1,155
- “dritte” frequency rank
- 35204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dreiste | dritte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dreist | nach dem oder der zweiten kommend |
Where the eye mixes dreiste and dritte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dreiste runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against dritte's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dreiste with dritte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dreiste is [ˈdʁaɪ̯stə] while dritte is [ˈdʁɪtə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dreiste is recorded at frequency rank #34,049, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʁaɪ̯stə]. dritte is at rank #1,155, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈdʁɪtə].
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 35204, this pair ranks #1,645,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dreiste vs dritte
Shared letters: deirt. Private to "dreiste": s. Private to "dritte": -.
"dreiste" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "dritte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dreiste" for "dritte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "dreiste" or "dritte" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "dreiste" and "dritte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dreiste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dritte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,645,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dreiste" and "dritte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dreiste vs dreister". 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 #1,645,529 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.