Which to use
“danke” is a particle and “dankend” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #212
- “danke” frequency rank
- #31,500
- “dankend” frequency rank
- 31712
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danke | dankend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wort, das man benutzt, um seinen Dank auszudrücken | Partizip Präsens des Verbs danken |
Where the eye mixes danke and dankend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. danke runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against dankend's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses danke with dankend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: danke is [ˈdaŋkə] while dankend is [ˈdaŋkn̩t]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “danke” sits inside “dankend”, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
danke is recorded at frequency rank #212, classified as aparticle, pronounced [ˈdaŋkə]. dankend is at rank #31,500, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdaŋkn̩t].
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 31712, this pair ranks #1,722,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of danke vs dankend
Shared letters: adekn. Private to "danke": -. Private to "dankend": -.
"danke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "dankend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "danke" and "dankend" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "danke" or "dankend" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "danke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dankend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,722,625 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "danke" and "dankend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dankend vs denkende". 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 #1,722,625 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.