hängevshanksTell them apart

Quick tell: hänge is a verb, hanks is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hänge” is a verb and “hanks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,304
“hänge” frequency rank
#36,977
“hanks” frequency rank
47281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hänge hanks
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs hängen Plural des Substantivs hank

Letter map: hänge vs hanks

Shared letters muted; letters that set hänge and hanks apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. hänge (CVCCV) and hanks (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
hänge
5 ch
hanks

Role in the sentence - hänge and hanks

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: hänge is averb and hanksanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hänge is recorded at frequency rank #10,304, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈhɛŋə]. hanks is at rank #36,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 47281, this pair ranks #1,289,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hänge vs hanks

Shared letters: hn. Private to "hänge": egä. Private to "hanks": aks.

"hänge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "hanks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hanks ← ahnks · hakns · hankks · hankss · hannks · hansk · hhanks · hnaks

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "hänge" and "hanks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hänge" is a verb and "hanks" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hänge" or "hanks"?
"hänge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,304 in our German list, against #36,977 for "hanks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "hänge" vs "hanks" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hänge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hanks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,289,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hänge" and "hanks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hanks vs puzzles". 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 #1,289,861 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