Which to use
“danke” is a particle and “denk” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #212
- “danke” frequency rank
- #2,707
- “denk” frequency rank
- 2919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danke | denk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wort, das man benutzt, um seinen Dank auszudrücken | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken |
Where the eye mixes danke and denk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: danke is [ˈdaŋkə] while denk is [dɛŋk]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
danke is recorded at frequency rank #212, classified as aparticle, pronounced [ˈdaŋkə]. denk is at rank #2,707, tagged as averb, pronounced [dɛŋk].
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 2919, this pair ranks #2,001,316 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of danke vs denk
Shared letters: dekn. Private to "danke": a. Private to "denk": -.
"danke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "denk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC