German and Dutch both have short and long vowels. In both languages, the letter which represents the vowel can be doubled to show it is long. This is the case in aal (eel) and boot (boat), words which are spelled the same in both languages. However, in many cases, the Dutch word has a doubled letter and the German word has an h after the vowel to indicate it is long.
Here is a list of ten words with the Dutch spelling followed by the German:
baan Bahn (lane)
boon Bohne (bean)
jaar Jahr (year)
kool Kohl (cabbage)
meer mehr (more)
oor Ohr (ear)
uur Uhr (o'clock)
waar wahr (true)
zeer sehr (very)
zoon Sohn (son)
The convention of using doubled letters to indicate vowel length is more common in Dutch than in German. However, the letter i is not doubled to indicate length. In this case, both languages use the letters ie as in the word hier (here). Long vowels are often spelled differently in German and Dutch.
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