DrüsenvsDudenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Drüsen” and “Duden” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,431
“Drüsen” frequency rank
#15,067
“Duden” frequency rank
57498
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Drüsen Duden
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Drüse bekanntes Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Where the eye mixes Drüsen and Duden

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Drüsen runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against Duden's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Drüsen
5 ch
Duden

Look-alike desk: Drüsen vs Duden

A purely visual mix-up. Drüsen ([ˈdʁyːzn̩]) and Duden ([ˈduːdn̩]) 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 57498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Drüsen is recorded at frequency rank #42,431, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdʁyːzn̩]. Duden is at rank #15,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈduːdn̩].

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 57498, this pair ranks #899,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Drüsen vs Duden

Shared letters: den. Private to "Drüsen": rsü. Private to "Duden": u.

"Drüsen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "Duden" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Duden ← dduden · dduen · dudden · dudenn · dudne · duedn · udden

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Drüsen" for "Duden" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʁyːzn̩] versus [ˈduːdn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Drüsen" vs "Duden" - which ranks higher?
"Duden" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,067 in our German list, against #42,431 for "Drüsen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Drüsen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Duden" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #899,041 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Drüsen" and "Duden" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dissen vs Drüsen". 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 #899,041 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