drückevsdrückteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,636
“drücke” frequency rank
#10,839
“drückte” frequency rank
21475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature drücke drückte
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs drücken 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs drücken

Where the eye mixes drücke and drückte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. drücke runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against drückte's 7 (CCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
drücke
7 ch
drückte

Look-alike desk: drücke vs drückte

A purely visual mix-up. drücke ([ˈdʁʏkə]) and drückte ([ˈdʁʏktə]) 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 21475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

drücke is recorded at frequency rank #10,636, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁʏkə]. drückte is at rank #10,839, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈdʁʏktə].

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 21475, this pair ranks #1,885,843 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of drücke vs drückte

Shared letters: cdekrü. Private to "drücke": -. Private to "drückte": t.

"drücke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "drückte" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "drücke" for "drückte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈdʁʏkə] versus [ˈdʁʏktə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "drücke" or "drückte"?
"drücke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,636 in our German list, against #10,839 for "drückte". 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 "drücke" and "drückte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "drücke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "drückte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,885,843 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "drücke" and "drückte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Drecks vs drücke". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,885,843 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