Which to use
“packen” and “picken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,546
- “packen” frequency rank
- #45,512
- “picken” frequency rank
- 50058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | packen | picken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas zusammenlegen, zusammenfalten, wegräumen, in eine gepackte Form (Bündel, Packen, Paket) bringen, zubinden, zusammenkleben, in eine Verpackung tun | mit dem Schnabel auf etwas einhacken, insbesondere Futterkörner |
Where the eye mixes packen and picken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. packen and picken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses packen with picken
A purely visual mix-up. packen ([ˈpakn̩]) and picken ([ˈpɪkn̩]) 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 a single letter - a in “packen” becomes i in “picken”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
packen is recorded at frequency rank #4,546, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈpakn̩]. picken is at rank #45,512, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈpɪkn̩].
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 50058, this pair ranks #1,188,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of packen vs picken
Shared letters: ceknp. Private to "packen": a. Private to "picken": i.
"packen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "picken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "packen" and "picken" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "packen" vs "picken" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "packen" and "picken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "packen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "picken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,188,181 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "packen" and "picken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picken vs Pinken". 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 #1,188,181 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.