ankamvsaufkamTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,091
“ankam” frequency rank
#40,388
“aufkam” frequency rank
53479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ankam aufkam
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs ankommen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv der Nebensatzkonjugation des Verbs aufkommen

Where the eye mixes ankam and aufkam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ankam runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against aufkam's 6 (VVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ankam
6 ch
aufkam

Visual trap between ankam and aufkam

A purely visual mix-up. ankam ([ˈanˌkaːm]) and aufkam ([ˈaʊ̯fˌkaːm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ankam is recorded at frequency rank #13,091, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈanˌkaːm]. aufkam is at rank #40,388, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯fˌkaːm].

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 53479, this pair ranks #1,056,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ankam vs aufkam

Shared letters: akm. Private to "ankam": n. Private to "aufkam": fu.

"ankam" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "aufkam" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ankam ← aknam · anakm · ankamm · ankkam · ankma · annkam · nakam
  • aufkam ← afukam · aufakm · auffkam · aufkamm · aufkkam · aufkma · aukfam · uafkam

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ankam" and "aufkam" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈanˌkaːm] versus [ˈaʊ̯fˌkaːm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ankam" or "aufkam" show up more?
"ankam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,091 in our German list, against #40,388 for "aufkam". 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 "ankam" and "aufkam" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ankam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aufkam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,056,399 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ankam" and "aufkam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aufgab vs aufkam". 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 #1,056,399 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