duftenvsduftetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,865
“duften” frequency rank
#25,967
“duftet” frequency rank
71832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duften duftet
Definition angenehmen Geruch abgeben, verströmen, verbreiten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs duften

Where the eye mixes duften and duftet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. duften and duftet follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
duften
6 ch
duftet

Why the eye confuses duften with duftet

A purely visual mix-up. duften ([ˈdʊftn̩]) and duftet ([ˈdʊftət]) 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 a single letter - n in “duften” becomes t in “duftet”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duften is recorded at frequency rank #45,865, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊftn̩]. duftet is at rank #25,967, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊftət].

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 71832, this pair ranks #405,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of duften vs duftet

Shared letters: deftu. Private to "duften": n. Private to "duftet": -.

"duften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "duftet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duften ← dduften · dfuten · dufetn · dufften · duftenn · duftne · duftten · dutfen
  • duftet ← dduftet · dfutet · dufett · dufftet · duftett · duftte · dufttet · dutfet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "duften" and "duftet" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʊftn̩] versus [ˈdʊftət]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "duften" vs "duftet" - which ranks higher?
"duftet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,967 in our German list, against #45,865 for "duften". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "duften" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duftet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #405,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duften" and "duftet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duften vs Dukaten". 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 #405,561 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