AnkevsarkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Anke is a name, ark is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#16,626
“Anke” frequency rank
#36,793
“ark” frequency rank
53419
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Anke ark
Definition weiblicher Vorname eine große Kiste mit einem flachen Deckel

Where the eye mixes Anke and ark

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

4 ch
Anke
3 ch
ark

Why the eye confuses Anke with ark

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Anke is [ˈaŋkə] while ark is [ɑːk]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53419, 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]. ark is at rank #36,793, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɑːk].

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 53419, this pair ranks #1,058,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Anke vs ark

Shared letters: ak. Private to "Anke": en. Private to "ark": r.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ankeanek · ankke · annke · nake

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Anke" for "ark" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Anke" is a name and "ark" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Anke" or "ark" show up more?
"Anke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,626 in our German list, against #36,793 for "ark". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "ark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,058,768 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Anke" and "ark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ark vs AUD". 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 #1,058,768 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