AnkevsansTell them apart

Quick tell: Anke is a name, ans is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Anke” is a name and “ans” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,626
“Anke” frequency rank
#1,467
“ans” frequency rank
18093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Anke ans
Definition weiblicher Vorname an das

Where the eye mixes Anke and ans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Anke
3 ch
ans

Look-alike desk: Anke vs ans

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Anke is [ˈaŋkə] while ans is [ans]. 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 (name vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Anke is recorded at frequency rank #16,626, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈaŋkə]. ans is at rank #1,467, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [ans].

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 18093, this pair ranks #1,921,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Anke vs ans

Shared letters: an. Private to "Anke": ek. Private to "ans": s.

"Anke" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ans" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ankeanek · ankke · annke · nake

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Anke" for "ans" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Anke" is a name and "ans" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Anke" vs "ans" - which ranks higher?
"ans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,467 in our German list, against #16,626 for "Anke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Anke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,921,465 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Anke" and "ans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Anke vs Atze". 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 #1,921,465 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