dankevsdannWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: danke is a particle, dann is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“danke” is a particle and “dann” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#212
“danke” frequency rank
#56
“dann” frequency rank
268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature danke dann
Definition Wort, das man benutzt, um seinen Dank auszudrücken zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt oder einer späteren Zeitspanne in der baldigen Zukunft

Where the eye mixes danke and dann

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

5 ch
danke
4 ch
dann

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: danke is [ˈdaŋkə] while dann is [dan]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (particle vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

danke is recorded at frequency rank #212, classified as aparticle, pronounced [ˈdaŋkə]. dann is at rank #56, tagged as anadv, pronounced [dan].

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 268, this pair ranks #2,006,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of danke vs dann

Shared letters: adn. Private to "danke": ek. Private to "dann": -.

"danke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "dann" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dankeadnke · dakne · danek · dankke · dannke · ddanke · dnake
  • dannadnn · ddann · dnan

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "danke" and "dann" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "danke" is a particle and "dann" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "danke" or "dann"?
"dann" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #56 in our German list, against #212 for "danke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "danke" and "dann". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "danke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dann" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,006,066 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "danke" and "dann" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "danke 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list