dickenvsdruckenConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,416
“dicken” frequency rank
#7,594
“drucken” frequency rank
12010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dicken drucken
Definition durch Zugabe von Geliermittel, Mehl oder Ähnlichem etwas Flüssiges (besonders Speisen) dickflüssiger, zähflüssiger, fester machen durch Druck vervielfältigen

Where the eye mixes dicken and drucken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
dicken
7 ch
drucken

Why the eye confuses dicken with drucken

A purely visual mix-up. dicken ([ˈdɪkn̩]) and drucken ([ˈdʁʊkn̩]) 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 12010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dicken is recorded at frequency rank #4,416, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdɪkn̩]. drucken is at rank #7,594, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁʊkn̩].

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 12010, this pair ranks #1,966,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dicken vs drucken

Shared letters: cdekn. Private to "dicken": i. Private to "drucken": ru.

"dicken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "drucken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dickendciken · ddicken · diccken · dicekn · dickenn · dickken · dickne · dikcen
  • druckenddrucken · drcuken · drrucken · druccken · drucekn · druckenn · druckken · druckne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dicken" and "drucken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɪkn̩] versus [ˈdʁʊkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "dicken" or "drucken" show up more?
"dicken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,416 in our German list, against #7,594 for "drucken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dicken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drucken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,966,684 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dicken" and "drucken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deckten vs dicken". 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 #1,966,684 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