banjovsBänkeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,621
“banjo” frequency rank
#21,561
“Bänke” frequency rank
60182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banjo Bänke
Definition Banjo Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Bank

Where the eye mixes banjo and Bänke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. banjo and Bänke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
banjo
5 ch
Bänke

Visual trap between banjo and Bänke

A purely visual mix-up. banjo ([ˈbænd͡ʒəʊ]) and Bänke ([ˈbɛŋkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banjo is recorded at frequency rank #38,621, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbænd͡ʒəʊ]. Bänke is at rank #21,561, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɛŋkə].

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 60182, this pair ranks #796,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of banjo vs Bänke

Shared letters: bn. Private to "banjo": ajo. Private to "Bänke": ekä.

"banjo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Bänke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banjo ← abnjo · bajno · banjjo · bannjo · banoj · bbanjo · bnajo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "banjo" for "Bänke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbænd͡ʒəʊ] versus [ˈbɛŋkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banjo" vs "Bänke" - which ranks higher?
"Bänke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,561 in our German list, against #38,621 for "banjo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "banjo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Bänke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #796,502 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banjo" and "Bänke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banco vs banjo". 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 #796,502 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