DeliktvsdenktWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Delikt is a noun, denkt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Delikt” is a noun and “denkt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,739
“Delikt” frequency rank
#1,104
“denkt” frequency rank
42843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Delikt denkt
Definition Verstoß gegen geltendes Strafrecht 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken

Where the eye mixes Delikt and denkt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Delikt runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against denkt's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Delikt
5 ch
denkt

Visual trap between Delikt and denkt

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Delikt is [deˈlɪkt] while denkt is [dɛŋkt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Delikt is recorded at frequency rank #41,739, classified as anoun, pronounced [deˈlɪkt]. denkt is at rank #1,104, tagged as averb, pronounced [dɛŋkt].

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 42843, this pair ranks #1,436,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Delikt vs denkt

Shared letters: dekt. Private to "Delikt": il. Private to "denkt": n.

"Delikt" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "denkt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Delikt ← ddelikt · deilkt · delikkt · deliktt · delitk · delkit · dellikt · dleikt
  • denkt ← ddenkt · deknt · denkkt · denktt · dennkt · dentk · dnekt · ednkt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Delikt" for "denkt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Delikt" is a noun and "denkt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Delikt" or "denkt" show up more?
"denkt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,104 in our German list, against #41,739 for "Delikt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Delikt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denkt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,436,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Delikt" and "denkt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Delikt vs Delikte". 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 #1,436,734 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