denkevsDinkelWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#475
“denke” frequency rank
#40,475
“Dinkel” frequency rank
40950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denke Dinkel
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken Getreideart, die auch in rauen Lagen und auf „armen“ Böden wächst

Where the eye mixes denke and Dinkel

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

5 ch
denke
6 ch
Dinkel

Why the eye confuses denke with Dinkel

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: denke is [ˈdɛŋkə] while Dinkel is [ˈdɪŋkl̩]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denke is recorded at frequency rank #475, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛŋkə]. Dinkel is at rank #40,475, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɪŋkl̩].

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 40950, this pair ranks #1,493,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of denke vs Dinkel

Shared letters: dekn. Private to "denke": -. Private to "Dinkel": il.

"denke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Dinkel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denke ← ddenke · dekne · denek · denkke · dennke · dneke · ednke
  • Dinkel ← ddinkel · diknel · dinekl · dinkell · dinkkel · dinkle · dinnkel · dnikel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "denke" for "Dinkel" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denke" is a verb and "Dinkel" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denke" or "Dinkel"?
"denke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #475 in our German list, against #40,475 for "Dinkel". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Dinkel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,493,659 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denke" and "Dinkel" 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 #1,493,659 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