Which to use
“dance” and “denke” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,780
- “dance” frequency rank
- #475
- “denke” frequency rank
- 7255
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dance | denke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tanzen | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken |
Where the eye mixes dance and denke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dance and denke
A purely visual mix-up. dance ([dɑːns]) and denke ([ˈdɛŋkə]) 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 7255, 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]. denke is at rank #475, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛŋkə].
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 7255, this pair ranks #1,988,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dance vs denke
Shared letters: den. Private to "dance": ac. Private to "denke": k.
"dance" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "denke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dance" for "denke" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "dance" or "denke" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dance" and "denke" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "denke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,988,836 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dance" and "denke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dance vs Düne". 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 #1,988,836 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.