Which to use
“danke” is a particle and “dunkle” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #212
- “danke” frequency rank
- #3,951
- “dunkle” frequency rank
- 4163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danke | dunkle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wort, das man benutzt, um seinen Dank auszudrücken | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dunkel |
Where the eye mixes danke and dunkle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses danke with dunkle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: danke is [ˈdaŋkə] while dunkle is [ˈdʊŋklə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
danke is recorded at frequency rank #212, classified as aparticle, pronounced [ˈdaŋkə]. dunkle is at rank #3,951, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊŋklə].
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 4163, this pair ranks #1,998,425 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of danke vs dunkle
Shared letters: dekn. Private to "danke": a. Private to "dunkle": lu.
"danke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "dunkle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "danke" and "dunkle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "danke" vs "dunkle" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "danke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dunkle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,998,425 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "danke" and "dunkle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Düne vs dunkle". 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 #1,998,425 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.