DiskvsDiskusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,997
“Disk” frequency rank
#33,533
“Diskus” frequency rank
65530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Disk Diskus
Definition Speichermedium in Form einer flachen Scheibe Wurfscheibe in der Leichtathletik

Where the eye mixes Disk and Diskus

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

4 ch
Disk
6 ch
Diskus

Why the eye confuses Disk with Diskus

A purely visual mix-up. Disk ([dɪsk]) and Diskus ([ˈdɪskʊs]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Disk” sits inside “Diskus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Disk is recorded at frequency rank #31,997, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɪsk]. Diskus is at rank #33,533, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈdɪskʊs].

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 65530, this pair ranks #603,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Disk vs Diskus

Shared letters: diks. Private to "Disk": -. Private to "Diskus": u.

"Disk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Diskus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Diskddisk · diks · diskk · dissk · dsik · idsk
  • Diskusddiskus · diksus · diskkus · disksu · diskuss · disskus · disuks · dsikus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Disk" for "Diskus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([dɪsk] versus [ˈdɪskʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Disk" or "Diskus"?
"Disk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,997 in our German list, against #33,533 for "Diskus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Disk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Diskus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #603,715 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Disk" and "Diskus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diet vs Disk". 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 #603,715 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