Which to use
“danken” and “drängen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,780
- “danken” frequency rank
- #7,748
- “drängen” frequency rank
- 12528
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | danken | drängen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | seinen Dank aussprechen oder seine Dankbarkeit durch Taten äußern | jemanden an einen Ort bewegen, ohne dass er es will |
Where the eye mixes danken and drängen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. danken runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against drängen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between danken and drängen
A purely visual mix-up. danken ([ˈdaŋkn̩]) and drängen ([ˈdʁɛŋən]) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12528, 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]. drängen is at rank #7,748, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁɛŋən].
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 12528, this pair ranks #1,963,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of danken vs drängen
Shared letters: den. Private to "danken": ak. Private to "drängen": grä.
"danken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "drängen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- danken ← adnken · daknen · danekn · dankenn · dankken · dankne · dannken · ddanken
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "danken" for "drängen" ever safe?
Frequency check: "danken" vs "drängen" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "danken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drängen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,963,635 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "danken" and "drängen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "danken 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 #1,963,635 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.