blankevsblickeTell them apart

Quick tell: blanke is a adjective, blicke is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“blanke” is an adjective and “blicke” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,273
“blanke” frequency rank
#6,518
“blicke” frequency rank
30791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blanke blicke
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs blank 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs blicken

Where the eye mixes blanke and blicke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
blanke
6 ch
blicke

Visual trap between blanke and blicke

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blanke is [ˈblaŋkə] while blicke is [ˈblɪkə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blanke is recorded at frequency rank #24,273, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈblaŋkə]. blicke is at rank #6,518, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈblɪkə].

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 30791, this pair ranks #1,740,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of blanke vs blicke

Shared letters: bekl. Private to "blanke": an. Private to "blicke": ci.

"blanke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "blicke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blankebalnke · bblanke · blakne · blanek · blankke · blannke · bllanke · blnake
  • blickebblicke · bilcke · blcike · bliccke · blicek · blickke · blikce · bllicke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "blanke" for "blicke" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blanke" is an adjective and "blicke" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "blanke" or "blicke"?
"blicke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,518 in our German list, against #24,273 for "blanke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "blanke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blicke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,740,999 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blanke" and "blicke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blanca vs blanke". 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 #1,740,999 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