drittvsdrittenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dritt is a num, dritten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dritt” is a num and “dritten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,891
“dritt” frequency rank
#965
“dritten” frequency rank
13856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dritt dritten
Definition mit mit einer Gruppe aus drei Individuen etwas machen Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs dritte

Where the eye mixes dritt and dritten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
dritt
7 ch
dritten

Why the eye confuses dritt with dritten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dritt is [dʁɪt] while dritten is [ˈdʁɪtn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dritt” sits inside “dritten”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dritt is recorded at frequency rank #12,891, classified as anum, pronounced [dʁɪt]. dritten is at rank #965, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʁɪtn̩].

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 13856, this pair ranks #1,955,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dritt vs dritten

Shared letters: dirt. Private to "dritt": -. Private to "dritten": en.

"dritt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "dritten" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • drittddritt · dirtt · drit · drritt · drtit · rditt
  • drittenddritten · dirtten · driten · dritetn · drittenn · drittne · drritten · drtiten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dritt" and "dritten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dritt" is a num and "dritten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dritt" vs "dritten" - which ranks higher?
"dritten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our German list, against #12,891 for "dritt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dritt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dritten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,955,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dritt" and "dritten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diet vs dritt". 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 #1,955,208 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