dancevsdankteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,780
“dance” frequency rank
#19,536
“dankte” frequency rank
26316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dance dankte
Definition tanzen 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs danken

Where the eye mixes dance and dankte

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

5 ch
dance
6 ch
dankte

Visual trap between dance and dankte

A purely visual mix-up. dance ([dɑːns]) and dankte ([ˈdaŋktə]) 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 26316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dance is recorded at frequency rank #6,780, classified as averb, pronounced [dɑːns]. dankte is at rank #19,536, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdaŋktə].

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 26316, this pair ranks #1,819,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dance vs dankte

Shared letters: aden. Private to "dance": c. Private to "dankte": kt.

"dance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dankte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • danceadnce · dacne · dancce · danec · dannce · ddance · dnace
  • dankteadnkte · daknte · danket · dankkte · danktte · dannkte · dantke · ddankte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dance" and "dankte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([dɑːns] versus [ˈdaŋktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "dance" or "dankte"?
"dance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,780 in our German list, against #19,536 for "dankte". 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 "dance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dankte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,819,970 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dance" and "dankte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Däne vs dankte". 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 #1,819,970 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