DinkelvsdonkeyTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,475
“Dinkel” frequency rank
#46,575
“donkey” frequency rank
87050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dinkel donkey
Definition Getreideart, die auch in rauen Lagen und auf „armen“ Böden wächst Esel

Where the eye mixes Dinkel and donkey

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Dinkel (CVCCVC) and donkey (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
Dinkel
6 ch
donkey

Why the eye confuses Dinkel with donkey

A purely visual mix-up. Dinkel ([ˈdɪŋkl̩]) and donkey ([ˈdɒŋkɪ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dinkel is recorded at frequency rank #40,475, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɪŋkl̩]. donkey is at rank #46,575, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɒŋkɪ].

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 87050, this pair ranks #85,400 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Dinkel vs donkey

Shared letters: dekn. Private to "Dinkel": il. Private to "donkey": oy.

"Dinkel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "donkey" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dinkel ← ddinkel · diknel · dinekl · dinkell · dinkkel · dinkle · dinnkel · dnikel
  • donkey ← ddonkey · dnokey · dokney · doneky · donkeyy · donkkey · donkye · donnkey

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Dinkel" and "donkey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdɪŋkl̩] versus [ˈdɒŋkɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Dinkel" or "donkey"?
"Dinkel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,475 in our German list, against #46,575 for "donkey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dinkel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "donkey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #85,400 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dinkel" and "donkey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dickem vs Dinkel". 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 #85,400 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