Which to use
“durch” is a preposition and “dürfe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #67
- “durch” frequency rank
- #7,900
- “dürfe” frequency rank
- 7967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | durch | dürfe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in etwas hinein und auf der anderen Seite wieder heraus (wobei oft der Teil dazwischen das Wichtige ist) | 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv I Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen |
Where the eye mixes durch and dürfe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between durch and dürfe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: durch is [dʊʁç] while dürfe is [ˈdʏʁfə]. 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 (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
durch is recorded at frequency rank #67, classified as aprep, pronounced [dʊʁç]. dürfe is at rank #7,900, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʏʁfə].
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 7967, this pair ranks #1,986,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of durch vs dürfe
Shared letters: dr. Private to "durch": chu. Private to "dürfe": efü.
"durch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "dürfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- durch ← ddurch · druch · ducrh · durcch · durchh · durhc · durrch · udrch
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "durch" for "dürfe" ever safe?
Which is more common, "durch" or "dürfe"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "durch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dürfe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,986,128 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "durch" and "dürfe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duran vs dürfe". 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 #1,986,128 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.