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I have encountered many times two prepositions for "Zeit", in and zu.

in dieser Zeit

zu dieser Zeit

It may sound mundane to natural speakers but I'm just curious, is there any difference between them?

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  • 4
    It's like in English: during this time (span) versus at this (point of) time.
    – Björn Friedrich
    Apr 16 '20 at 14:20
  • Da wo nur drei mit der Idee übereinstimmen, dass diese Frage anhand eines WB zu lösen wäre, würde ich vorschlagen zumindest einen besseren Tittel zu wählen (die Frage geht nur um zwei Präp.)
    – c.p.
    Apr 18 '20 at 5:44
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Yes, in different contexts:

  1. In dieser Zeit war ich schwanger.
  2. Zu dieser Zeit war ich schwanger.

In both cases you refer to a time - while the first option refers to a time span, the second option will mostly refer to a point of time :

  1. During this time I was pregnant.
  2. At this time I was pregnant

I've chosen this example to point out that zu dieser Zeit can also refer to a time span - in case the reference dieser Zeit is a time span too.

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