checkvsclickWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,156
“check” frequency rank
#20,206
“click” frequency rank
25362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature check click
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs checken 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs clicken

Where the eye mixes check and click

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
check
5 ch
click

Look-alike desk: check vs click

A purely visual mix-up. check ([t͡ʃɛk]) and click ([klɪk]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

check is recorded at frequency rank #5,156, classified as averb, pronounced [t͡ʃɛk]. click is at rank #20,206, tagged as averb, pronounced [klɪk].

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 25362, this pair ranks #1,834,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of check vs click

Shared letters: ck. Private to "check": eh. Private to "click": il.

"check" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "click" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • checkccheck · cehck · chcek · checck · checkk · chekc · chheck · hceck
  • clickcclick · cilck · clcik · clicck · clickk · clikc · cllick · lcick

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "check" for "click" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([t͡ʃɛk] versus [klɪk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "check" vs "click" - which ranks higher?
"check" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,156 in our German list, against #20,206 for "click". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "check" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "click" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,834,452 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "check" and "click" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "click vs clock". 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 #1,834,452 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