Which to use
“du” is a pronoun and “Dung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38
- “du” frequency rank
- #45,866
- “Dung” frequency rank
- 45904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | du | Dung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der Angesprochene oder Angeschriebene, falls nicht die Höflichkeitsform Sie verwendet wird | ein Gemisch von Fäkalien zum Fördern des Wachstums von (Nutz-)Pflanzen |
Where the eye mixes du and Dung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses du with Dung
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: du is [duː] while Dung is [dʊŋ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “du” sits inside “Dung”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
du is recorded at frequency rank #38, classified as apron, pronounced [duː]. Dung is at rank #45,866, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʊŋ].
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 45904, this pair ranks #1,337,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of du vs Dung
Shared letters: du. Private to "du": -. Private to "Dung": gn.
"du" · 2 letters · shape CV · "Dung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Dung ← ddung · dnug · dugn · dungg · dunng · udng
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "du" and "Dung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "du" or "Dung" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "du" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Dung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,337,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "du" and "Dung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duch vs Dung". 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 #1,337,197 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.