Which to use
“dunkle” and “dünne” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,951
- “dunkle” frequency rank
- #9,353
- “dünne” frequency rank
- 13304
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dunkle | dünne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dunkel | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs dünn |
Where the eye mixes dunkle and dünne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dunkle and dünne
A purely visual mix-up. dunkle ([ˈdʊŋklə]) and dünne ([ˈdʏnə]) 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 13304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dunkle is recorded at frequency rank #3,951, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʊŋklə]. dünne is at rank #9,353, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈdʏnə].
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 13304, this pair ranks #1,958,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dunkle vs dünne
Shared letters: den. Private to "dunkle": klu. Private to "dünne": ü.
"dunkle" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "dünne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dunkle ← ddunkle · dnukle · duknle · dunkkle · dunklle · dunlke · dunnkle · udnkle
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dunkle" and "dünne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "dunkle" or "dünne" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dunkle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dünne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,958,828 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dunkle" and "dünne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Düne vs dünne". 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 #1,958,828 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.