DockvsdogConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#26,364
“Dock” frequency rank
#12,051
“dog” frequency rank
38415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Dock dog
Definition Becken oder schwimmender Hohlkörper aus Stahl zur Trockenlegung von Schiffen, an denen Außenarbeiten erforderlich sind fleischfressendes Säugetier der Gattung Canis

Where the eye mixes Dock and dog

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Dock
3 ch
dog

Why the eye confuses Dock with dog

A purely visual mix-up. Dock ([dɔk]) and dog ([dɒɡ]) 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 38415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Dock is recorded at frequency rank #26,364, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɔk]. dog is at rank #12,051, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dɒɡ].

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 38415, this pair ranks #1,564,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Dock vs dog

Shared letters: do. Private to "Dock": ck. Private to "dog": g.

"Dock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "dog" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Dockdcok · ddock · docck · dockk · dokc · odck

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Dock" and "dog" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([dɔk] versus [dɒɡ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Dock" or "dog"?
"dog" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,051 in our German list, against #26,364 for "Dock". 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 "Dock" and "dog" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Dock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dog" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,564,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Dock" and "dog" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dock vs Docks". 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 #1,564,582 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