Which to use
“von” is a preposition and “vous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11
- “von” frequency rank
- #22,563
- “vous” frequency rank
- 22574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | von | vous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ursprung räumlicher oder zeitlicher Veränderung, Herkunft, Gegenstand der Betrachtung, Ursache, sonstige Verhältnisse | ihr |
Where the eye mixes von and vous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses von with vous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: von is [fɔn] while vous is [vu]. 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 (preposition vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
von is recorded at frequency rank #11, classified as aprep, pronounced [fɔn]. vous is at rank #22,563, tagged as apron, pronounced [vu].
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 22574, this pair ranks #1,872,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of von vs vous
Shared letters: ov. Private to "von": n. Private to "vous": su.
"von" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vous ← ovus · vosu · vouss · vuos · vvous
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "von" and "vous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "von" or "vous" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "von" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,872,521 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "von" and "vous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voip vs vous". 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 #1,872,521 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.