denkevsdukeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#475
“denke” frequency rank
#13,578
“duke” frequency rank
14053
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denke duke
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs denken -

Letter map: denke vs duke

Shared letters muted; letters that set denke and duke apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
denke
4 ch
duke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: denke is averb and dukeaparticle. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denke is recorded at frequency rank #475, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɛŋkə]. duke is at rank #13,578, tagged as aparticle, pronounced […].

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 14053, this pair ranks #1,953,887 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of denke vs duke

Shared letters: dek. Private to "denke": n. Private to "duke": u.

"denke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "duke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denkeddenke · dekne · denek · denkke · dennke · dneke · ednke
  • dukedduke · dkue · duek · dukke · udke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "denke" and "duke" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denke" is a verb and "duke" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denke" or "duke"?
"denke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #475 in our German list, against #13,578 for "duke". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "denke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,953,887 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denke" and "duke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "duke vs puzzles". 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