Which to use
“drinnen” is an adverb and “dünnen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,471
- “drinnen” frequency rank
- #11,414
- “dünnen” frequency rank
- 16885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drinnen | dünnen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | innerhalb eines Raumes | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs dünn |
Where the eye mixes drinnen and dünnen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. drinnen runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against dünnen's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses drinnen with dünnen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: drinnen is [ˈdʁɪnən] while dünnen is [ˈdʏnən]. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drinnen is recorded at frequency rank #5,471, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈdʁɪnən]. dünnen is at rank #11,414, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʏnən].
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 16885, this pair ranks #1,932,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of drinnen vs dünnen
Shared letters: den. Private to "drinnen": ir. Private to "dünnen": ü.
"drinnen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "dünnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- drinnen ← ddrinnen · dirnnen · drinen · drinenn · drinnenn · drinnne · drninen · drrinnen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "drinnen" for "dünnen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "drinnen" vs "dünnen" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "drinnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dünnen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,932,193 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drinnen" and "dünnen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Düne vs dünnen". 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 #1,932,193 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.