DürrevsDurstConfusable pair

Which to use

“Dürre” and “Durst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,858
“Dürre” frequency rank
#11,217
“Durst” frequency rank
29075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dürre Durst
Definition Periode des Wassermangels, die zu Schäden in der Landwirtschaft führt (heftiges) Verlangen zu trinken

Where the eye mixes Dürre and Durst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Dürre
5 ch
Durst

Why the eye confuses Dürre with Durst

A purely visual mix-up. Dürre ([ˈdʏʁə]) and Durst ([dʊʁst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dürre is recorded at frequency rank #17,858, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdʏʁə]. Durst is at rank #11,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʊʁst].

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 29075, this pair ranks #1,773,512 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dürre vs Durst

Shared letters: dr. Private to "Dürre": . Private to "Durst": stu.

"Dürre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Durst" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Durstddurst · drust · durrst · dursst · durstt · durts · dusrt · udrst

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Dürre" for "Durst" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʏʁə] versus [dʊʁst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Dürre" or "Durst"?
"Durst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,217 in our German list, against #17,858 for "Dürre". 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 "Dürre" and "Durst" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dürre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Durst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,773,512 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dürre" and "Durst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duran vs Dürre". 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 #1,773,512 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