BlindevsBlinkerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,396
“Blinde” frequency rank
#29,969
“Blinker” frequency rank
41365
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Blinde Blinker
Definition weibliche Person, die nicht sehen kann Teil der Lichtanlage in Kraftfahrzeugen; zeigt die Richtung an, in die man abbiegen möchte

Where the eye mixes Blinde and Blinker

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Blinde
7 ch
Blinker

Why the eye confuses Blinde with Blinker

A purely visual mix-up. Blinde ([ˈblɪndə]) and Blinker ([ˈblɪŋkɐ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Blinde is recorded at frequency rank #11,396, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈblɪndə]. Blinker is at rank #29,969, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈblɪŋkɐ].

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 41365, this pair ranks #1,481,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Blinde vs Blinker

Shared letters: beiln. Private to "Blinde": d. Private to "Blinker": kr.

"Blinde" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Blinker" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Blindebblinde · bilnde · blidne · blindde · blined · blinnde · bllinde · blnide
  • Blinkerbblinker · bilnker · blikner · blinekr · blinkerr · blinkker · blinkre · blinnker

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Blinde" for "Blinker" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈblɪndə] versus [ˈblɪŋkɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Blinde" or "Blinker"?
"Blinde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,396 in our German list, against #29,969 for "Blinker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Blinde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Blinker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,481,622 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Blinde" and "Blinker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Blinker vs blonder". 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 #1,481,622 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