duftenvsDürrenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: duften is a verb, Dürren is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“duften” is a verb and “Dürren” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,865
“duften” frequency rank
#35,718
“Dürren” frequency rank
81583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duften Dürren
Definition angenehmen Geruch abgeben, verströmen, verbreiten Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Dürre

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set duften and Dürren apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
duften
6 ch
Dürren

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: duften is [ˈdʊftn̩] while Dürren is [ˈdʏʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81583, 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]. Dürren is at rank #35,718, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdʏʁən].

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 81583, this pair ranks #172,968 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of duften vs Dürren

Shared letters: den. Private to "duften": ftu. Private to "Dürren": .

"duften" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Dürren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duftendduften · dfuten · dufetn · dufften · duftenn · duftne · duftten · dutfen

Frequency comparison

duften#45,865
Dürren#35,718

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "duften" and "Dürren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duften" is a verb and "Dürren" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "duften" or "Dürren"?
"Dürren" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,718 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.

Remembering duften vs Dürren

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “duften”; for a noun, it's “Dürren”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “duften” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list