denenvsdenkeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: denen is a unknown, denke is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“denen” is an unknown and “denke” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#248
“denen” frequency rank
#475
“denke” frequency rank
723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denen denke
Definition Dativ Plural des Relativpronomens der 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken

Where the eye mixes denen and denke

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

5 ch
denen
5 ch
denke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denen is [ˈdeːnən] while denke is [ˈdɛŋkə]. 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 (unknown vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denen is recorded at frequency rank #248, classified as anunknown, pronounced [ˈdeːnən]. 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 723, this pair ranks #2,005,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of denen vs denke

Shared letters: den. Private to "denen": -. Private to "denke": k.

"denen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "denke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denenddenen · deenn · denenn · denne · dennen · dneen · ednen
  • denkeddenke · dekne · denek · denkke · dennke · dneke · ednke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "denen" and "denke" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denen" is an unknown and "denke" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denen" or "denke"?
"denen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #248 in our German list, against #475 for "denke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "denen" and "denke". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denen" 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 #2,005,446 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denen" and "denke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denke vs Düne". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list