nickenvsnicktWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,645
“nicken” frequency rank
#24,055
“nickt” frequency rank
47700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nicken nickt
Definition (zur Bejahung, Zustimmung, als Geste des Verstehens, als Gruß oder dergleichen) den Kopf kurz hintereinander senken und heben 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs nicken

Where the eye mixes nicken and nickt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
nicken
5 ch
nickt

Look-alike desk: nicken vs nickt

A purely visual mix-up. nicken ([ˈnɪkn̩]) and nickt ([nɪkt]) 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 47700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nicken is recorded at frequency rank #23,645, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnɪkn̩]. nickt is at rank #24,055, tagged as averb, pronounced [nɪkt].

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 47700, this pair ranks #1,275,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nicken vs nickt

Shared letters: cikn. Private to "nicken": e. Private to "nickt": t.

"nicken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "nickt" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nickenincken · nciken · niccken · nicekn · nickenn · nickken · nickne · nikcen
  • nicktinckt · ncikt · nicckt · nickkt · nicktt · nictk · nikct · nnickt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nicken" and "nickt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɪkn̩] versus [nɪkt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nicken" or "nickt"?
"nicken" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,645 in our German list, against #24,055 for "nickt". 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 "nicken" and "nickt" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nicken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nickt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,275,161 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nicken" and "nickt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nicken vs Nissen". 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 #1,275,161 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