duevsdünneConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#19,191
“due” frequency rank
#9,353
“dünne” frequency rank
28544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature due dünne
Definition fällig Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dünn

Where the eye mixes due and dünne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
due
5 ch
dünne

Visual trap between due and dünne

A purely visual mix-up. due ([djuː]) and dünne ([ˈdʏnə]) 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 28544, 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]. dünne is at rank #9,353, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʏnə].

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 28544, this pair ranks #1,782,867 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of due vs dünne

Shared letters: de. Private to "due": u. Private to "dünne": .

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "due" and "dünne" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([djuː] versus [ˈdʏnə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "due" or "dünne" show up more?
"dünne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,353 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

Eye-level mix-up between "due" and "dünne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "due" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dünne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,782,867 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "due" and "dünne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dudes vs due". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,782,867 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