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 spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set durch and dürfe apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
durch and dürfe form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. 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.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "durch" and "dürfe" be used interchangeably?
Remembering durch vs dürfe
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “durch”; for a verb, it's “dürfe”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “durch” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable