dem
[deːm]
The verdict
“dem” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #22) as a determiner. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #22
- frequency rank, German
- 2,764
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - [1] Dativ Singular des definiten Artikels der
Corpus desk
Index DE-dem · dem · German
dem · rank #22 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #22
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,764
- PHOTO-FINISH auch
Nearest frequency peer: auch (-1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “dem”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- eine
eine
99,982 corpus weight
- sich
sich
99,981 corpus weight
- auch
auch
99,980 corpus weight
- dem
dem
99,979 corpus weight
- des
des
99,978 corpus weight
- als
als
99,977 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dem” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dem |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Determiner |
| IPA | [deːm] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #22 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dem” sits in German frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for dem is neighbouring look-alikes ("du", "do", …), not just typos; it is adeterminer pronounced [deːm]. Frequency #22 among 2,764 “D” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
dem has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "do", "dm", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is dem, spelled D-E-M.
Definition
- 1[1] Dativ Singular des definiten Artikels der
- 2[2] Dativ Singular des definiten Artikels das
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dem", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.