attackvsAttackenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,835
“attack” frequency rank
#11,166
“Attacken” frequency rank
32001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature attack Attacken
Definition Angriff, Attacke Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Attacke

Where the eye mixes attack and Attacken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
attack
8 ch
Attacken

Look-alike desk: attack vs Attacken

A purely visual mix-up. attack ([əˈtæk]) and Attacken ([aˈtakn̩]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “attack” sits inside “Attacken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

attack is recorded at frequency rank #20,835, classified as anoun, pronounced [əˈtæk]. Attacken is at rank #11,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈtakn̩].

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 32001, this pair ranks #1,716,830 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of attack vs Attacken

Shared letters: ackt. Private to "attack": -. Private to "Attacken": en.

"attack" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "Attacken" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • attackatack · atatck · attacck · attackk · attakc · attcak · tatack
  • Attackenatacken · atatcken · attaccken · attacekn · attackenn · attackken · attackne · attakcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "attack" and "Attacken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([əˈtæk] versus [aˈtakn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "attack" vs "Attacken" - which ranks higher?
"Attacken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,166 in our German list, against #20,835 for "attack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "attack" and "Attacken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "attack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Attacken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,716,830 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "attack" and "Attacken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Altach vs attack". 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 #1,716,830 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