Which to use
“dürft” is a verb and “dust” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,457
- “dürft” frequency rank
- #45,871
- “dust” frequency rank
- 56328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dürft | dust |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Plural Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs dürfen | Staub |
Where the eye mixes dürft and dust
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dürft vs dust
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dürft is [dʏʁft] while dust is [dʌst]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dürft is recorded at frequency rank #10,457, classified as averb, pronounced [dʏʁft]. dust is at rank #45,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʌst].
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 56328, this pair ranks #944,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dürft vs dust
Shared letters: dt. Private to "dürft": frü. Private to "dust": su.
"dürft" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "dust" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dust ← ddust · dsut · dusst · dustt · duts · udst
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dürft" and "dust" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dürft" vs "dust" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dürft" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #944,556 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dürft" and "dust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dusch vs dust". 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 #944,556 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.