DuftvsdunTell them apart

Quick tell: Duft is a noun, dun is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Duft” is a noun and “dun” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,850
“Duft” frequency rank
#37,461
“dun” frequency rank
46311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Duft dun
Definition ein angenehmer Geruch, der sich verbreitet oder ausgebracht wird; organische oder chemische Verbindung im Zustand nach Genuss von zu viel Alkohol

Where the eye mixes Duft and dun

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

4 ch
Duft
3 ch
dun

Visual trap between Duft and dun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Duft is [dʊft] while dun is [duːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Duft is recorded at frequency rank #8,850, classified as anoun, pronounced [dʊft]. dun is at rank #37,461, tagged as anadj, pronounced [duːn].

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 46311, this pair ranks #1,323,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Duft vs dun

Shared letters: du. Private to "Duft": ft. Private to "dun": n.

"Duft" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Duftdduft · dfut · dufft · duftt · dutf · udft

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Duft" and "dun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Duft" is a noun and "dun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Duft" or "dun"?
"Duft" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,850 in our German list, against #37,461 for "dun". 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 "Duft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,323,514 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Duft" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dun vs duran". 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 #1,323,514 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