FlankevsFlankenTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,912
“Flanke” frequency rank
#22,336
“Flanken” frequency rank
35248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Flanke Flanken
Definition eine Seite des Körpers vierbeiniger Säugetiere Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Flanke

Where the eye mixes Flanke and Flanken

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
Flanke
7 ch
Flanken

Visual trap between Flanke and Flanken

A purely visual mix-up. Flanke ([ˈflaŋkə]) and Flanken ([ˈflaŋkn̩]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Flanke” sits inside “Flanken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Flanke is recorded at frequency rank #12,912, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈflaŋkə]. Flanken is at rank #22,336, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈflaŋkn̩].

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 35248, this pair ranks #1,644,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Flanke vs Flanken

Shared letters: aefkln. Private to "Flanke": -. Private to "Flanken": -.

"Flanke" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Flanken" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Flankefalnke · fflanke · flakne · flanek · flankke · flannke · fllanke · flnake
  • Flankenfalnken · fflanken · flaknen · flanekn · flankenn · flankken · flankne · flannken

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Flanke" and "Flanken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈflaŋkə] versus [ˈflaŋkn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Flanke" vs "Flanken" - which ranks higher?
"Flanke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,912 in our German list, against #22,336 for "Flanken". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Flanke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Flanken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,644,444 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Flanke" and "Flanken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Flanken vs Fransen". 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 #1,644,444 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