decktevsdenkeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,997
“deckte” frequency rank
#475
“denke” frequency rank
30472
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deckte denke
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs decken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken

Where the eye mixes deckte and denke

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

6 ch
deckte
5 ch
denke

Why the eye confuses deckte with denke

A purely visual mix-up. deckte ([ˈdɛktə]) and denke ([ˈdɛŋkə]) 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 30472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deckte is recorded at frequency rank #29,997, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛktə]. denke is at rank #475, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛŋkə].

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 30472, this pair ranks #1,747,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deckte vs denke

Shared letters: dek. Private to "deckte": ct. Private to "denke": n.

"deckte" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "denke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decktedcekte · ddeckte · decckte · decket · deckkte · decktte · dectke · dekcte
  • denkeddenke · dekne · denek · denkke · dennke · dneke · ednke

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "deckte" and "denke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɛktə] versus [ˈdɛŋkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "deckte" or "denke" show up more?
"denke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #475 in our German list, against #29,997 for "deckte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "deckte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,747,175 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deckte" and "denke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deckte vs devote". 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 #1,747,175 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