DukatenvsdurftenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#43,113
“Dukaten” frequency rank
#4,603
“durften” frequency rank
47716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dukaten durften
Definition eine Goldmünze, die vor allem im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit zum Handel diente und als Nachprägung bis heute als Sammel- und Geschenkmünze verwendet wird 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs dürfen

Where the eye mixes Dukaten and durften

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Dukaten (CVCVCVC) and durften (CVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
Dukaten
7 ch
durften

Visual trap between Dukaten and durften

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Dukaten is [duˈkaːtn̩] while durften is [ˈdʊʁftn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dukaten is recorded at frequency rank #43,113, classified as anoun, pronounced [duˈkaːtn̩]. durften is at rank #4,603, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʊʁftn̩].

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 47716, this pair ranks #1,274,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Dukaten vs durften

Shared letters: dentu. Private to "Dukaten": ak. Private to "durften": fr.

"Dukaten" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "durften" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dukaten ← ddukaten · dkuaten · duakten · dukaetn · dukatenn · dukatne · dukatten · dukkaten
  • durften ← ddurften · druften · dufrten · durfetn · durfften · durftenn · durftne · durftten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Dukaten" and "durften" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Dukaten" is a noun and "durften" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Dukaten" or "durften" show up more?
"durften" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,603 in our German list, against #43,113 for "Dukaten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dukaten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "durften" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,274,611 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dukaten" and "durften" 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 #1,274,611 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