checkevscheckenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,866
“checke” frequency rank
#11,025
“checken” frequency rank
50891
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature checke checken
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs checken neudeutsch, überprüfen

Where the eye mixes checke and checken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. checke runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against checken's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
checke
7 ch
checken

Visual trap between checke and checken

A purely visual mix-up. checke ([ˈt͡ʃɛkə]) and checken ([ˈt͡ʃɛkn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “checke” sits inside “checken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

checke is recorded at frequency rank #39,866, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃɛkə]. checken is at rank #11,025, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃɛkn̩].

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 50891, this pair ranks #1,156,400 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of checke vs checken

Shared letters: cehk. Private to "checke": -. Private to "checken": n.

"checke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "checken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • checke ← cchecke · cehcke · chceke · checcke · checek · checkke · chekce · chhecke
  • checken ← cchecken · cehcken · chceken · checcken · checekn · checkenn · checkken · checkne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "checke" for "checken" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈt͡ʃɛkə] versus [ˈt͡ʃɛkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "checke" or "checken" show up more?
"checken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,025 in our German list, against #39,866 for "checke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "checke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "checken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,156,400 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "checke" and "checken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "checke vs checks". 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 #1,156,400 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