kickvsklinkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,681
“kick” frequency rank
#38,853
“klink” frequency rank
50534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kick klink
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs kicken 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs klinken

Where the eye mixes kick and klink

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
kick
5 ch
klink

Visual trap between kick and klink

A purely visual mix-up. kick ([kɪk]) and klink ([klɪŋk]) 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 50534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kick is recorded at frequency rank #11,681, classified as averb, pronounced [kɪk]. klink is at rank #38,853, tagged as averb, pronounced [klɪŋk].

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 50534, this pair ranks #1,170,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kick vs klink

Shared letters: ik. Private to "kick": c. Private to "klink": ln.

"kick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "klink" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kickikck · kcik · kicck · kickk · kikc · kkick
  • klinkkilnk · kklink · klikn · klinkk · klinnk · kllink · klnik · lkink

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kick" and "klink" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kɪk] versus [klɪŋk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "kick" vs "klink" - which ranks higher?
"kick" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,681 in our German list, against #38,853 for "klink". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "kick" and "klink" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "klink" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,170,045 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kick" and "klink" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "klink vs klipp". 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 #1,170,045 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