Which to use
“danken” is a verb and “donkey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,780
- “danken” frequency rank
- #46,575
- “donkey” frequency rank
- 51355
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danken | donkey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | seinen Dank aussprechen oder seine Dankbarkeit durch Taten äußern | Esel |
Where the eye mixes danken and donkey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: danken vs donkey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: danken is [ˈdaŋkn̩] while donkey is [ˈdɒŋkɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51355, 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]. donkey is at rank #46,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɒŋkɪ].
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 51355, this pair ranks #1,138,696 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of danken vs donkey
Shared letters: dekn. Private to "danken": a. Private to "donkey": oy.
"danken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "donkey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "danken" for "donkey" ever safe?
Which is more common, "danken" or "donkey"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "danken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "donkey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,138,696 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "danken" and "donkey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dinkel vs donkey". 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 #1,138,696 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.