dankenvsdankendWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“danken” and “dankend” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,780
“danken” frequency rank
#31,500
“dankend” frequency rank
36280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature danken dankend
Definition seinen Dank aussprechen oder seine Dankbarkeit durch Taten äußern Partizip Präsens des Verbs danken

Where the eye mixes danken and dankend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. danken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against dankend's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
danken
7 ch
dankend

Look-alike desk: danken vs dankend

A purely visual mix-up. danken ([ˈdaŋkn̩]) and dankend ([ˈdaŋkn̩t]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “danken” sits inside “dankend”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

danken is recorded at frequency rank #4,780, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdaŋkn̩]. 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 36280, this pair ranks #1,619,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of danken vs dankend

Shared letters: adekn. Private to "danken": -. Private to "dankend": -.

"danken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dankend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dankenadnken · daknen · danekn · dankenn · dankken · dankne · dannken · ddanken
  • dankendadnkend · daknend · daneknd · dankedn · dankendd · dankennd · dankkend · dankned

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "danken" and "dankend" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaŋkn̩] versus [ˈdaŋkn̩t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "danken" vs "dankend" - which ranks higher?
"danken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,780 in our German list, against #31,500 for "dankend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "danken" and "dankend" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "danken" 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 #1,619,551 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "danken" 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 #1,619,551 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list