dankenvsdickenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,780
“danken” frequency rank
#4,416
“dicken” frequency rank
9196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature danken dicken
Definition seinen Dank aussprechen oder seine Dankbarkeit durch Taten äußern durch Zugabe von Geliermittel, Mehl oder Ähnlichem etwas Flüssiges (besonders Speisen) dickflüssiger, zähflüssiger, fester machen

Where the eye mixes danken and dicken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
danken
6 ch
dicken

Why the eye confuses danken with dicken

A purely visual mix-up. danken ([ˈdaŋkn̩]) and dicken ([ˈdɪkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9196, 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]. dicken is at rank #4,416, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɪkn̩].

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 9196, this pair ranks #1,981,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of danken vs dicken

Shared letters: dekn. Private to "danken": a. Private to "dicken": ci.

"danken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dicken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dankenadnken · daknen · danekn · dankenn · dankken · dankne · dannken · ddanken
  • dickendciken · ddicken · diccken · dicekn · dickenn · dickken · dickne · dikcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "danken" and "dicken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdaŋkn̩] versus [ˈdɪkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "danken" or "dicken"?
"dicken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,416 in our German list, against #4,780 for "danken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "danken" and "dicken" 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 "dicken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "danken" and "dicken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deckten vs dicken". 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 #1,981,024 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