Which to use
“dunkel” and “dunkle” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,030
- “dunkel” frequency rank
- #3,951
- “dunkle” frequency rank
- 6981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dunkel | dunkle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ohne oder mit wenig Licht, lichtlos | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dunkel |
Where the eye mixes dunkel and dunkle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dunkel vs dunkle
A purely visual mix-up. dunkel ([ˈdʊŋkl̩]) and dunkle ([ˈdʊŋklə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (el ↔ le) - a transposition the eye reads straight past. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dunkel is recorded at frequency rank #3,030, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊŋkl̩]. dunkle is at rank #3,951, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊŋklə].
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 6981, this pair ranks #1,989,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dunkel vs dunkle
Shared letters: deklnu. Private to "dunkel": -. Private to "dunkle": -.
"dunkel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "dunkle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dunkel" and "dunkle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dunkel" or "dunkle"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dunkel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dunkle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,989,809 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dunkel" and "dunkle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Düne vs dunkle". 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 #1,989,809 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.