duevsdummeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,191
“due” frequency rank
#3,804
“dumme” frequency rank
22995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature due dumme
Definition fällig Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs dumm

Where the eye mixes due and dumme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
due
5 ch
dumme

Look-alike desk: due vs dumme

A purely visual mix-up. due ([djuː]) and dumme ([ˈdʊmə]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

due is recorded at frequency rank #19,191, classified as anadj, pronounced [djuː]. dumme is at rank #3,804, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊmə].

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 22995, this pair ranks #1,867,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of due vs dumme

Shared letters: deu. Private to "due": -. Private to "dumme": m.

"due" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "dumme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dummeddumme · dmume · dume · dumem · udmme

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "due" and "dumme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([djuː] versus [ˈdʊmə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "due" or "dumme" show up more?
"dumme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,804 in our German list, against #19,191 for "due". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "due" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dumme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,867,079 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "due" and "dumme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dudes vs due". 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 #1,867,079 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