FickevsFunkeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,189
“Ficke” frequency rank
#15,361
“Funke” frequency rank
43550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ficke Funke
Definition Tasche in einem Kleidungsstück kleines, in der Luft verbrennendes glühendes Teilchen

Where the eye mixes Ficke and Funke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Ficke and Funke follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Ficke
5 ch
Funke

Look-alike desk: Ficke vs Funke

A purely visual mix-up. Ficke ([ˈfɪkə]) and Funke ([ˈfʊŋkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ficke is recorded at frequency rank #28,189, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɪkə]. Funke is at rank #15,361, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfʊŋkə].

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 43550, this pair ranks #1,414,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ficke vs Funke

Shared letters: efk. Private to "Ficke": ci. Private to "Funke": nu.

"Ficke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Funke" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ficke ← fcike · fficke · ficcke · ficek · fickke · fikce · ifcke
  • Funke ← ffunke · fnuke · fukne · funek · funkke · funnke · ufnke

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Ficke" for "Funke" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɪkə] versus [ˈfʊŋkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ficke" or "Funke"?
"Funke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,361 in our German list, against #28,189 for "Ficke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ficke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Funke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,414,583 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ficke" and "Funke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ficke vs Fock". 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 #1,414,583 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