dünnenvsDürrenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#11,414
“dünnen” frequency rank
#35,718
“Dürren” frequency rank
47132
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dünnen Dürren
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs dünn Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Dürre

Where the eye mixes dünnen and Dürren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
dünnen
6 ch
Dürren

Look-alike desk: dünnen vs Dürren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dünnen is [ˈdʏnən] while Dürren is [ˈdʏʁən]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47132, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dünnen is recorded at frequency rank #11,414, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʏnən]. 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 47132, this pair ranks #1,295,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dünnen vs Dürren

Shared letters: denü. Private to "dünnen": -. Private to "Dürren": r.

"dünnen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Dürren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dünnen" and "Dürren" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dünnen" is an adjective and "Dürren" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dünnen" or "Dürren"?
"dünnen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,414 in our German list, against #35,718 for "Dürren". 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 "dünnen" and "Dürren" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dünnen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dürren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,295,114 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dünnen" and "Dürren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duran vs Dürren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,295,114 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